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Rijal Group

  • Investigative Medicine Division
  • MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit
  • MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine
3D image of virus cells © Image by kjpargeter on Freepik

Influenza virus remains a significant global public health concern, causing billions of infections, millions of severe cases, and thousands of deaths annually. The influenza virus has two major surface proteins: hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), which are essential for virus lifecycle. Current influenza vaccines, updated annually, primarily target HA but provide suboptimal protection, partly because antibodies fail to recognise continuously evolving viral strains. Including NA in vaccines is a promising strategy for improving vaccine effectiveness, as antibodies against NA limit viral spread, correlate with protection, and offer broader immunity against diverse influenza strains. 

Our research objectives are:

  1. To identify vulnerable sites on the NA protein surface targeted by protective antibodies
  2. To develop effective NA-based protein vaccines
  3. To discover better drugs targeting neuraminidase

Influenza virus Neuraminidase

Our team

Selected publications

Collaborators

  • Professor Kuan-Ying Arthur Huang (National Taiwan University)
  • Professor Yan Wu (Beijing Institutes of Life Sciences)
  • Professor Thomas Bowden (University of Oxford)
  • Professor Elma Tchilian (The Pirbright Institute, UK)
  • Professor Erica Ollmann Saphire (La Jolla Institute for Immunology, USA)
  • Professor Mark Howarth (University of Cambridge)

Related research themes

We seek to bridge the ‘innovation gap’ between ‘basic’ research in the laboratory and tangible benefits for patients. Our researchers aim to develop novel approaches to treating disease and we have particular strengths in evaluating technologies such as antibody therapy and gene therapy, and using new techniques for target discovery. Many of our researchers collaborate with biotech and industry partners to accelerate progress along the drug discovery pipeline and assess these new treatments in the clinic.
Emerging Therapies and Drug Discovery
A raft of cellular and molecular biology techniques underpin much of the work we do to elucidate the mechanisms of disease. We use established techniques to answer new questions and also develop our own novel and unique methodologies to drive further innovation.
Cellular and Molecular Biology