|
 |
Contact Details:Tel: 028 703 24903 Fax: 028 703 24375 E-mail: a.bridgen@ulster.ac.uk
Brief Biography:Dr Bridgen undertook her primary degree at the University of Cambridge where she obtained a BA in Biochemistry in 1983. She completed an MA in 1987, and gained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1990. From 1983 to 1987, Dr Bridgen held a Research Assistant post within the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, where she worked on a combined oral vaccine for hepatitis B and typhoid. This was followed by a period of time (1987-1990) as a Higher Scientific Officer with the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh, researching the genomic organisation and pathogenesis of Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 and its relationship to the agent of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever. Dr Bridgen then moved to Zurich to undertake a 3-year appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant, investigating coronaviruses at the Institute for Virology. She returned to the Institute for Virology in Zurich to conduct further research from February to October 1996. From 1996 to 1999, Dr Bridgen held a Postdoctoral Research Assistant post within the Institute of Virology at the University of Glasgow working on Bunyamwera virus reverse genetics. In 1999, she was promoted to a Research Fellow post at the University of Glasgow to work on the molecular biology of nairoviruses, before taking up her current appointment as a Lecturer in Bioimaging at the University of Ulster in 2002. Main Research Interests:Dr Bridgen’s research focuses on the molecular biology of a group of exotic viruses, the Bunyaviridae, some of which are severe pathogens of man and animals. They are negative sense, tri-segmented RNA viruses that are carried by a variety of (mainly) arthropod vectors, particularly ticks and mosquitoes. Dr Bridgen’s research is in three main areas: Pathogenesis of the disease In order to understand the disease process and alleviate symptoms of disease we need to study its pathogenesis. Dr Bridgen has studied the effects on wild type and immune deficient mice infected with a relatively apathogenic virus, Dugbe virus in collaboration with Prof John Fazakerley in Edinburgh funded by the Royal Society (See Boyd, A., Fazakerley, J.K. and BRIDGEN, A. (2006). Pathogenesis of Dugbe virus infection in wild type and interferon deficient mice. J. Gen. Virol. 87, 2005-2009). Recently, Anne and Dr Michael Baron of the Institute of Animal Health in Pirbright (IAH) have been awarded a substantial sum from the BBSRC to study one of the serious pathogens in this virus group, Nairobi sheep disease virus, using the special containment facilities available at the IAH. Nairobi sheep disease virus causes a fatal haemorrhagic disease in sheep and goats, so this project allows gives us a unique chance to study the processes leading to severe disease with a view to finding suitable treatment as well as seeing whether we can develop an attenuated vaccine strain of the virus. This project could also have benefit to other human haemorrhagic diseases, which for obvious reasons cannot be studied in the laboratory. Biochemical studies/ viral evasion of innate immunity Dr Bridgen is particularly interested in a novel domain seen in one of the nairoviral proteins, the polymerase protein, which has recently been shown to remove both ubiquitin and the ubiquitin-like molecule ISG-15 from targeted proteins (Frias-Staheli, N., Giannakopoulos, N.V., Kikkert, M., Taylor, S.L., BRIDGEN, A., Paragas, J.J., Richt, J.A., Rowland, R.R., Schmaljohn, C.S., Deborah J. Lenschow, D.J., Snijder,E.J., García-Sastre, A. and Virgin, H.W. (2007). Ovarian Tumor (OTU)-domain Containing Viral Proteases Evade Ubiquitin- and ISG15-dependent Innate Immune Responses. Cell Host and Microbe 2, 404- 416). It seems that this is a new way in which the virus can evade the host’s immune defence mechanisms. I am offering a PhD project to study this fascinating area. Viral reverse genetics This is the manipulation of viral cDNA in order to modify the virus, which is the best way to study the role of specific proteins and gene regulatory regions. See BRIDGEN, A., Weber, F., Fazakerley, J.K. and Elliott, R.M. (2001). Bunyamwera bunyavirus nonstructural protein NSs is a nonessential gene product that contributes to viral pathogenesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 664-669 for an application of this approach, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust. Main Research Collaborators:Professor Richard Elliott, University of Glasgow Dr John Fazakerley, University of Edinburgh Dr Friedemann Weber, University of Freiberg, Germany. Research Publications (since 2000):Boyd A, Fazakerley JK, Bridgen A; Pathogenesis of Dugbe virus infection in wild-type and interferon-deficient mice; Journal of General Virology, 87: 2005-2009, 2006 Bridgen A, Dalrymple DA, Weber F, Elliott RM; Inhibition of Dugbe nairovirus replication by human MxA protein; Virus Research, 99: 47-50, 2004 Kohl A, Clayton RF, Weber F, Bridgen A, Randall RE, Elliott RM; Bunyamwera virus nonstructural protein NSs counteracts interferon regulatory factor 3-mediated induction of early cell death; Journal of Virology, 77: 7999-8008, 2003 Kohl A, Bridgen A, Dunn E, Barr JN, Elliott RM; Effects of a point mutation in the 3’ end of the S genome segment of naturally occurring and engineered Bunyamwera viruses; Journal of General Virology, 84:789-793, 2003 Streitenfeld H, Boyd A, Fazakerley JK, Bridgen A, Elliott RM, Weber F; Activation of PKR by Bunyamwera virus is independent of the viral interferon antagonist NSs; Journal of Virology, 77: 5507-5511, 2003 Bridgen A, Dalrymple DA, Elliott RM; Dugbe nairovirus S segment: correction of published sequence and comparison of five isolates; Virology, 294: 364-371, 2002 Weber F, Bridgen A, Fazakerley JK, Streitenfeld H, Kessler N, Randall RE, Elliott RM; Bunyamwera bunyavirus nonstructural protein NSs counteracts the induction of alpha/beta interferon; Journal of Virology, 76: 7949-7955, 2002 Bridgen A, Weber F, Fazakerley JK, Elliott RM; Bunyamwera bunyavirus nonstructural protein NSs is a nonessential gene product that contributes to viral pathogenesis; Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA), 98: 664-669, 2001 Kocherhans R, Bridgen A, Ackermann M, Tobler K; Completion of the porcine epidemic diarrhoea coronavirus (PEDV) genome sequence; Virus Genes, 23:137-144, 2001 Weber F, Dunn EF, Bridgen A, Elliott RM; The Bunyamwera virus nonstructural protein NSs inhibits viral RNA synthesis in a minireplicon system; Virology, 281: 67-74, 2001 For further information please contact: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
