QBI presents a seminar with Clare Jolly, Professor of Virus Cell Biology in the Division of Infection and Immunity at University College London.

Dr. Jolly received her PhD from the University of Melbourne Australia in 2000 where she investigated the viral and cellular receptors during rotavirus infection. This was followed by postdoctoral training at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford. During her postdoctoral work, she discovered that HIV-1 drives infected T cells to form immune cell contacts termed virological synapses that allows the virus to rapidly and efficiently spread between cells. This work developed a new paradigm to explain how HIV-1 disseminates between immune cells and evades antiviral defenses. In 2009 Dr Jolly moved to University College London where she is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and Professor of Virus Cell Biology.

Her current research focus is on understanding the virus-host interactions that regulate HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 infection of host cells. Her research combines molecular virology, cell biology and immunology, alongside advanced imaging and multiomics approaches to addresses the fundamental question of what makes a cell permissive for virus infection and how cells defend themselves.

Talk Title: Permissivity and Reprogramming During HIV-1 Infection of T Cells

Dr. Jolly's talk will focus on her group’s most recent discoveries about how HIV-1 hijacks T cell signalling pathways and reprograms resting T-cells to license infection, and the consequences this has for T cell biology, viral persistence and pathogenesis. 

Host: Saumya Gopalkrishnan