ProfessorBarry Slobedman

Professor Barry Slobedman is head of the Herpesvirus Pathogenesis Research Group, where he works on a range of human herpesviruses including human cytomgealovirus (CMV), as well as Herpes simplex virus (HSV; the causative agent of cold sores) and Varicella Zoster virus (VZV; the causative agent of chickepox and shingles).

Human CMV is a herpesvirus which infects a vast majority of the world's population, where it is a leading cause of opportunistic and congenital disease. Primary productive infection leads to a lifelong latent infection that is characterised by maintenance of the viral genome without infectious virus production. Periodically, the virus reactivates from latency and is shed in bodily secretions. Whilst primary and reactivated infections are usually mild or asymptomatic in healthy adults, primary infection is a major cause of serious congenital infection leading to still birth or neurological damage in children and reactivated infection is a major cause of life-threatening disease in immunosuppressed individuals, such as those undergoing allogeneic stem cell and solid organ transplantation.

His work on human CMV is to define the mechanisms by which this virus causes life-threatening disease in at-risk individuals, so as to provide a rational basis for the design of novel anti-viral therapeutics to prevent or treat CMV disease. His work on HSV and VZV focusses on understanding immune evasion mechanisms encoded by these viruses.

His research group consists of Postdocs as well as PhD and Honours students and positions are frequently available for those with a keen interest in biomedical research.