COVID-19 Research at the MRC Toxicology Unit
We applied our combined expertise in mechanistic toxicology, immune responses and RNA therapeutics, to contribute to research on SARS-CoV2. Our scientific efforts during and after the pandemic have been reliant on collaboration within the Unit and with Universities and University Hospitals in Cambridge, Oxford, Liverpool, and Leicester amongst others. We investigated the factors involved in susceptibility to and infectiveness of SARS-CoV-2, characterising inter-individual differences in viral interacting proteins. We identified that severely obese individuals have accelerated waning of vaccine induced humoral immunity. We also increased our understanding of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, identifying that frameshifting by the ribosome can create unintended proteins that are non-toxic.
We are continuing work to understand the differences in responses to mRNA vaccines, including SARS-Cov-2 to improve efficacy and reduce toxicity. Read more.
Research Outputs
Fischer K, et al. Rapid discovery of monoclonal antibodies by microfluidics-enabled FACS of single pathogen-specific antibody-secreting cells. Nat Biotechnol. (2025).
Mulroney TE, et al. N1-methylpseudouridylation of mRNA causes +1 ribosomal frameshifting. Nature. (2024).
Boston, R. H. Stability of gut microbiome after COVID-19 vaccination in healthy and immuno-compromised individuals. Life Sci Alliance. 2024
Jackson HK, et al. Bioengineered small extracellular vesicles deliver multiple SARS-CoV-2 antigenic fragments and drive a broad immunological response. J Extracell Vesicles. (2024)
Sasaki D, et al. Micro-second time-resolved X-ray single-molecule internal motions of SARS-CoV-2 spike variants. Biochem Biophys Rep. (2024).
van der Klaauw AA, et al. Accelerated waning of the humoral response to COVID-19 vaccines in obesity. Nat Med. (2023).
Moore SC, et al. Evolution of long-term vaccine-induced and hybrid immunity in healthcare workers after different COVID-19 vaccine regimens. Med. (2023).
Ferreira IATM et al. Atypical B cells and impaired SARS-CoV-2 neutralization following heterologous vaccination in the elderly. Cell Rep. (2023).
Garland GD, et al. Development of a colorimetric assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro activity. Biochem J. (2022).
Foster WS, et al. Tfh cells and the germinal center are required for memory B cell formation & humoral immunity after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination. Cell Rep Med. (2022).
Gerber PP, et al. A protease-activatable luminescent biosensor and reporter cell line for authentic SARS-CoV-2 infection. PLoS Pathog. (2022).
Bergamaschi L, et al. Longitudinal analysis reveals that delayed bystander CD8+ T cell activation and early immune pathology distinguish severe COVID-19 from mild disease. Immunity. (2021).
Santos Leal et al. Paracetamol Is Associated with a Lower Risk of COVID-19 Infection and Decreased ACE2 Protein Expression: A Retrospective Analysis. COVID (2021).
Yu, Y. et al. Alzheimer′s and Parkinson′s diseases predict different COVID-19 outcomes, a UK Biobank study. Geriatrics (2021).
Travaglio, M. et al. Links between air pollution and COVID-19 in England. Environmental Pollution (2021).
Buckland, M. et al. Treatment of COVID-19 with remdesivir in the absence of humoral immunity: a case report. Nat Comms (2020).
Jensen MP, et al. Neuropathological findings in two patients with fatal COVID-19. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. (2021).
Other Contributions
We donated a PCR machine to Milton Keynes and 6 tissue culture hoods to University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.