Our team

Contagious Thinking is brought to you by CVR’s own staff and students, including ~10 postdocs, PhD students and research assistants. Below are the people who make this outreach project happen (in alphabetical order), but first we must thank Mrs Siobhan Petrie (CVR communications officer) and Dr Maria McPhillips (CVR Research Manager) for all the help in establishing and running Contagious Thinking.

Julien Amat, research assistant in the Murcia Lab (respiratory infections; chronic and community infections). Julien works in the Murcia lab and is investigating how influenza viruses adapt to new hosts, focusing on influenza viruses from animals other than humans. Julien is interested in getting experience in all of our different kinds of outreach: writing, audio and video recording but will focus on the production side of the outreach. Follow Julien on twitter if you like tweets on flu emergence @JulienAmat1

Elihu Aranday-Cortes, postdoc in the McLauchlan Lab (viral hepatitis; chronic and community infections). Elihu works on two projects within the McLauchlan lab, looking at regulation of the innate immune system but also sequencing of dengue virus samples. Elihu is a vet and has experience in bioinformatics as well as wet lab methods. Elihu will focus on photography, uploading pictures to our instagram. Follow Elihu if you like tweets about TB, HepC and immunology over at @Mondongho .

Connor Bamford, postdoc in the McLauchlan Lab (viral hepatitis; chronic and community infections). Connor is a postdoc in the lab of John McLauchlan where he is currently investigating the interaction of hepatitis C virus with the human innate immune response, with a focus on the host cell. Although he doesn’t just use HepC but works on a range of human viruses. Previously, Connor worked on paramyxovirus reverse genetics, in particular that of mumps virus. Working with mumps he completed his Ph.D in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with Paul Duprex and Bert Rima at the Queen’s University of Belfast. Connor is passionate about science and science communication in all its forms. When not in the lab or writing, Connor likes to make his own beer and play guitar. Follow Connor on twitter at @cggbamford

Jordan Clark, PhD student in the Kohl Lab (arboviruses, emerging and zoonotic infections). Jordan works on an arbovirus called Louping Ill virus, which infects and causes severe disease in sheep. Jordan will focus on using social media sites, such as Reddit to engage with the public about our science and also helping out with science festivals for the CVR, such as the MRC festival of science and the Glasgow Science Festival.

Joanna Crispell, PhD student in the Murcia Lab (respiratory infections; chronic and community infections). Joanna is a PhD student in Pablo Murcia’s lab studying the evolution of equine to canine influenza involving host range determinants. She was born and lived in Brazil until she was 8 years old when she moved to Northern Ireland. She studied Virology at the University of Glasgow where she discovered just how interesting viruses were and decided to stay to do her PhD. Joanna’s passions include good coffee and live music (which Glasgow is famous for!). Joanna is keen to pursue science communication in her career so be sure to follow her on twitter @JoannaCrispell or have a look at her fantastic (!) website: https://www.joannacrispell.com/ 

Steph Cumberworth, PhD student in the Kohl Lab (arboviruses, emerging and zoonotic infections). Steph is a PhD student who works on Zika virus infection and how our cells respond to it. Steph likes to draw and will help us out with illustration and science festivals for the CVR, such as the MRC festival of science and the Glasgow Science Festival. Follow Steph on Twitter at @S_Cumberworth

Ilaria Epifano, PhD student in the Graham lab (herpes viruses, chronic and community infections). Ilaria will focus on photography, uploading pictures to our instagram and has done a wonderful job in setting this up with Elihu. Follow Ilaria on twitter for a behind-the-scenes look at the CVR @IlariaEpifano

Yasmin Parr,  PhD student in Professor Margaret Hosie’s lab studying Feline Leukaemia Virus discordancy. She grew up in Campbeltown, Argyll, and moved to Glasgow to study Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Glasgow. She became interested in feline virology during her integrated MSci year. Yasmin’s passions include animals and music. She enjoys walks in the countryside and photography in her spare time. Yasmin has lots of experience in producing our podcasts and YouTube videos. Follow her on Twitter at @Yas_Amy

Veronica Rezelj, PhD student in the Elliott lab (arboviruses, emerging and zoonotic infections). Veronica is a PhD student in Professor Richard Elliott’s lab. She was born and raised in Argentina and lived two years in Slovenia before moving to Scotland. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of St Andrews before starting her PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on arboviruses and on understanding the determinants of their pathogenicity. Veronica speaks English, Spanish and Slovenian fluently, and is learning Italian. In her free time she enjoys travelling and listening to music. Follow Veronica on Twitter at @verorezelj

Andrew Shaw, postdoc in the Palmarini lab (arboviruses, emerging and zoonotic infections, innate immunity). Andrew has a lot of experience in writing and communicating science through our blog and podcast but also other websites like the Conversation and even the Glasgow Science Festival. Make sure to follow Andrew on Twitter if you like healthy scepticism and tweets about innate immunity and animal virus @VirusMuser

Chris Syme, Postdoc in the Bhella Lab (virus structural biology, arboviruses). Chris is working on structural biology of viruses by imaging and spectroscopic methods. Chris is interested in being our eyes and ears in the structural biology group and community and we look forward to hearing from Chris’ point of view and experience in more physical and chemical aspects of virus biology. @heschemistrypro

Weronica Witkowska, PhD student in the Thomson Lab (viral hepatitis; chronic and community infections). Weronika is very interested in science communication and public engagement and has helped out the CVR at a number of science festivals around Glasgow. She is interested in getting experience in all of our different kinds of outreach: writing, audio and video recording

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