Our group focuses on the replication and pathogenicity of intestinal RNA viruses using enteroviruses and astroviruses as model systems. Both virus groups include zoonotic pathogens, and both include members that can escape the gut to infect the central nervous system. We are developing a range of molecular tools to address fundamental issues in enterovirus and astrovirus biology: - Regulation of translation, replication and virus release - Features of virus replication in the gut-specific environment - Conserved RNA elements, their functions and therapeutic potential - Determinants of neurovirulence
Funding for research comes from the Royal Society, Wellcome Trust, Newton Fund, and MRC.
Valeria (Lera) Lulla is a Principal Investigator, Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow in the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge. Lera completed her PhD in virology in the lab of Andres Merits at the University of Tartu, Estonia. After completing her PhD, she moved to the USA to take up a postdoctoral position in the lab of Ilya Frolov, followed by two more UK postdocs in London with Polly Roy and Cambridge with Andrew Firth. Her own group was established in September 2021.
