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Perceptions and Experiences of the University of Nottingham Pilot SARS-CoV-2 Asymptomatic Testing Service: A Mixed-Methods Study (2020)
Journal Article
Blake, H., Corner, J., Cirelli, C., Hassard, J., Briggs, L., Daly, J. M., …Ball, J. (2021). Perceptions and Experiences of the University of Nottingham Pilot SARS-CoV-2 Asymptomatic Testing Service: A Mixed-Methods Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010188

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. We aimed to explore student and staff perceptions and experiences of a pilot SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic testing service (P-ATS) in a UK university campus setting. This was a mixed-method study co... Read More about Perceptions and Experiences of the University of Nottingham Pilot SARS-CoV-2 Asymptomatic Testing Service: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Rationally derived inhibitors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) p7 channel activity reveal prospect for bimodal antiviral therapy (2020)
Journal Article
Shaw, J., Gosain, R., Kalita, M. M., Foster, T. L., Kankanala, J., Mahato, D. R., …Griffin, S. (2020). Rationally derived inhibitors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) p7 channel activity reveal prospect for bimodal antiviral therapy. eLife, 9, Article e52555. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52555

© 2020, Shaw et al. Since the 1960s, a single class of agent has been licensed targeting virus-encoded ion channels, or 'viroporins', contrasting the success of channel blocking drugs in other areas of medicine. Although resistance arose to these pro... Read More about Rationally derived inhibitors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) p7 channel activity reveal prospect for bimodal antiviral therapy.

Enterovirus subtyping in a routine UK laboratory setting between 2013 and 2017 (2020)
Journal Article
Howson-Wells, H. C., Winckles, S., Aliker, C., Tarr, A. W., Irving, W. L., Clark, G., & McClure, C. P. (2020). Enterovirus subtyping in a routine UK laboratory setting between 2013 and 2017. Journal of Clinical Virology, 132, Article 104646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104646

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Background: Human enteroviruses (EV) are the leading cause of viral meningitis. EV genotyping is predominantly performed through amplification and sequencing of viral capsid protein-1 (VP1), frequently by national reference labor... Read More about Enterovirus subtyping in a routine UK laboratory setting between 2013 and 2017.

Nanopore sequencing from extraction-free direct PCR of dried serum spots for portable hepatitis B virus drug-resistance typing (2020)
Journal Article
Astbury, S., Nunes Soares, M. M. D. C., Peprah, E., King, B., Jardim, A. C. G., Shimizu, J. F., …McClure, P. (2020). Nanopore sequencing from extraction-free direct PCR of dried serum spots for portable hepatitis B virus drug-resistance typing. Journal of Clinical Virology, 129, Article 104483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104483

© 2020 Background: Effective drug regimens for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are essential to achieve the World Health Organisation commitment to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Lamivudine (3TC) is widely used in countries wi... Read More about Nanopore sequencing from extraction-free direct PCR of dried serum spots for portable hepatitis B virus drug-resistance typing.

Human Bocavirus infection and respiratory tract disease identified in a UK patient cohort (2020)
Journal Article
Bagasi, A. A., Howson-Wells, H. C., Clark, G., Tarr, A. W., Soo, S., Irving, W. L., & McClure, C. P. (2020). Human Bocavirus infection and respiratory tract disease identified in a UK patient cohort. Journal of Clinical Virology, 129, Article 104453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104453

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Background: Since its first isolation in 2005, Human Bocavirus (HBoV) has been repeatedly associated with acute respiratory tract infections, although its role in pathogenicity remains unclear due to high co-infection rates. Obje... Read More about Human Bocavirus infection and respiratory tract disease identified in a UK patient cohort.

Hepatitis C virus vaccine: Challenges and prospects (2020)
Journal Article
Duncan, J. D., Urbanowicz, R. A., Tarr, A. W., & Ball, J. K. (2020). Hepatitis C virus vaccine: Challenges and prospects. Vaccines, 8(1), Article 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8010090

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes both acute and chronic infection and continues to be a global problem despite advances in antiviral therapeutics. Current treatments fail to prevent reinfect... Read More about Hepatitis C virus vaccine: Challenges and prospects.

IFITMs mediate viral evasion in acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection (2019)
Journal Article
Wrensch, F., Ligat, G., Heydmann, L., Schuster, C., Zeisel, M. B., Pessaux, P., …Baumert, T. F. (2019). IFITMs mediate viral evasion in acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Hepatology, 70(5), 1506-1520. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.30699

While adaptive immune responses against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have been studied in great detail, the role of innate immunity in protection against HCV infection and immune evasion is only partially understood. Interferon‐induced transmemb... Read More about IFITMs mediate viral evasion in acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Cross-genotype AR3-specific neutralizing antibodies confer long-term protection in injecting drug users after HCV clearance (2019)
Journal Article
Merat, S. J., Bru, C., van de Berg, D., Molenkamp, R., Tarr, A. W., Koekkoek, S., …Schinkel, J. (2019). Cross-genotype AR3-specific neutralizing antibodies confer long-term protection in injecting drug users after HCV clearance. Journal of Hepatology, 71(1), 14-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2019.02.013

Background & Aims
Understanding immune protection against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is necessary for designing an effective vaccine. A number of broadly-reactive, neutralizing antibodies have been isolated from B cells of HCV-infected subjec... Read More about Cross-genotype AR3-specific neutralizing antibodies confer long-term protection in injecting drug users after HCV clearance.

Expression of human ficolin-2 in hepatocytes confers resistance to infection by diverse hepatotropic viruses (2019)
Journal Article
Irving, W. L., Jalal, P. J., Urbanowicz, R. A., Horncastle, E., Pathak, M., Goddard, C., …Tarr, A. W. (2019). Expression of human ficolin-2 in hepatocytes confers resistance to infection by diverse hepatotropic viruses. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 68(4), 642-648. https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000935

The liver-expressed pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) mannose binding lectin (MBL), ficolin-2 and ficolin-3 contribute to the innate immune response by activating complement. Binding of soluble ficolin-2 to viral pathogens can directly neutralize... Read More about Expression of human ficolin-2 in hepatocytes confers resistance to infection by diverse hepatotropic viruses.

InFusion cloning for the generation of biologically relevant HCV chimeric molecular clones (2018)
Book Chapter
King, B., Urbanowicz, R., Tarr, A. W., Ball, J. K., & McClure, C. P. (2019). InFusion cloning for the generation of biologically relevant HCV chimeric molecular clones. In M. Law (Ed.), Hepatitis C Virus Protocols (93-104). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8976-8_6

This chapter describes how to generate chimeric molecular cassettes that are ready to receive PCR-amplified E1/E2 genes using new DNA cloning technology. The method is divided into three sections: (1) generation of a ΔCore-NS2 cassette based upon the... Read More about InFusion cloning for the generation of biologically relevant HCV chimeric molecular clones.

Cloning and analysis of authentic patient-derived HCV E1/E2 glycoproteins (2018)
Book Chapter
Urbanowicz, R. A., Ball, J. K., & Tarr, A. W. (2019). Cloning and analysis of authentic patient-derived HCV E1/E2 glycoproteins. In M. Law (Ed.), Hepatitis C Virus Protocols (275-294). Springer Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8976-8_19

Experimental characterization of the properties of authentic viruses circulating in infected individuals presents a problem when investigating RNA viruses with error-prone polymerases. The hepatitis C virus provides an extreme example of RNA virus ge... Read More about Cloning and analysis of authentic patient-derived HCV E1/E2 glycoproteins.

Functional and immunogenic characterization of diverse HCV glycoprotein E2 variants (2018)
Journal Article
Khera, T., Behrendt, P., Bankwitz, D., Brown, R. J., Todt, D., Doepke, M., …Pietschmann, T. (2019). Functional and immunogenic characterization of diverse HCV glycoprotein E2 variants. Journal of Hepatology, 70(4), 593-602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.11.003

© 2018 European Association for the Study of the Liver Background & Aims: Induction of cross-reactive antibodies targeting conserved epitopes of the envelope proteins E1E2 is a key requirement for an hepatitis C virus vaccine. Conserved epitopes like... Read More about Functional and immunogenic characterization of diverse HCV glycoprotein E2 variants.

Immunization with a synthetic consensus hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein ectodomain elicits virus-neutralizing antibodies (2018)
Journal Article
Tarr, A. W., Backx, M., Hamed, M. R., Urbanowicz, R. A., McClure, C. P., Brown, R. J., & Ball, J. K. (2018). Immunization with a synthetic consensus hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein ectodomain elicits virus-neutralizing antibodies. Antiviral Research, 160, 25-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2018.09.005

Global eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection will require an efficacious vaccine capable of eliciting protective immunity against genetically diverse HCV strains. Natural spontaneous resolution of HCV infection is associated with productio... Read More about Immunization with a synthetic consensus hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein ectodomain elicits virus-neutralizing antibodies.

Enhanced nanoparticle uptake into virus infected cells: could nanoparticles be useful in antiviral therapy? (2018)
Journal Article
Abo-zeid, Y., Urbanowicz, R. A., Thomson, B. J., Irving, W. L., Tarr, A. W., & Garnett, M. C. (2018). Enhanced nanoparticle uptake into virus infected cells: could nanoparticles be useful in antiviral therapy?. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 547(1-2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2018.06.027

Virus infections cause diseases of different severity ranged from mild infection e.g. common cold into life threatening diseases e.g. Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B. Virus infections represent 44% of newly emerging infections. Althou... Read More about Enhanced nanoparticle uptake into virus infected cells: could nanoparticles be useful in antiviral therapy?.

How have retrovirus pseudotypes contributed to our understanding of viral entry? (2017)
Journal Article
Tarr, A. W., & King, B. (2017). How have retrovirus pseudotypes contributed to our understanding of viral entry?. Future Virology, 12(10), Article 0062. https://doi.org/10.2217/fvl-2017-0062

Study of virus entry into host cells is important for understanding viral tropism and pathogenesis. Studying the entry of in vitro cultured viruses is not always practicable. Study of highly pathogenic viruses, viruses that do not grow in culture, an... Read More about How have retrovirus pseudotypes contributed to our understanding of viral entry?.

Entry inhibition of HSV-1 and -2 protects mice from viral lethal challenge (2017)
Journal Article
Clementi, N., Criscuolo, E., Cappelletti, F., Quaranta, P., Pistello, M., Diotti, R. A., …Mancini, N. (2017). Entry inhibition of HSV-1 and -2 protects mice from viral lethal challenge. Antiviral Research, 143, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.03.028

The present study focused on inhibition of HSV-1 and -2 replication and pathogenesis in vitro and in vivo, through the selective targeting of the envelope glycoprotein D. Firstly, a human monoclonal antibody (Hu-mAb#33) was identified that could neut... Read More about Entry inhibition of HSV-1 and -2 protects mice from viral lethal challenge.

Novel functional hepatitis C virus glycoprotein isolates identified using an optimized viral pseudotype entry assay (2016)
Journal Article
Urbanowicz, R. A., McClure, C. P., King, B., Mason, C. P., Ball, J. K., & Tarr, A. W. (2016). Novel functional hepatitis C virus glycoprotein isolates identified using an optimized viral pseudotype entry assay. Journal of General Virology, 97(9), 2265-2279. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.000537

Retrovirus pseudotypes are a highly tractable model used to study the entry pathways of enveloped viruses. This model has been extensively applied to the study of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry pathway, pre-clinical screening of antiviral antibodi... Read More about Novel functional hepatitis C virus glycoprotein isolates identified using an optimized viral pseudotype entry assay.

High resolution sequencing of hepatitis C virus reveals limited intra-hepatic compartmentalization in end-stage liver disease (2016)
Journal Article
Hedegaard, D. L., Tully, D. C., Rowe, I. A., Reynolds, G. M., Bean, D. J., Hu, K., …McKeating, J. A. (2017). High resolution sequencing of hepatitis C virus reveals limited intra-hepatic compartmentalization in end-stage liver disease. Journal of Hepatology, 66(1), 28-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2016.07.048

Background & Aims

The high replication and mutation rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) results in a heterogeneous population of viral sequences in vivo. HCV replicates in the liver and infected hepatocytes occur as foci surrounded by uninfected cells... Read More about High resolution sequencing of hepatitis C virus reveals limited intra-hepatic compartmentalization in end-stage liver disease.

Flexible and rapid construction of viral chimeras applied to hepatitis C virus (2016)
Journal Article
McClure, P. C., Urbanowicz, R. A., King, B. J., Cano-Crespo, S., Tarr, A. W., & Ball, J. K. (2016). Flexible and rapid construction of viral chimeras applied to hepatitis C virus. Journal of General Virology, 97(9), 2187-2193. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.000530

A novel and broadly applicable strategy combining site directed mutagenesis and DNA assembly for constructing seamless viral chimeras is described using Hepatitis C Virus as an exemplar. Full-length HCV genomic cloning cassettes, which contained flex... Read More about Flexible and rapid construction of viral chimeras applied to hepatitis C virus.