Showing articles associated with Sumana Sanyal
Professor Sanyal arrived in Oxford at the start of 2020, coming to the institution from Hong Kong University, and leads a research group studying flaviviruses. She completed her post-doctoral training under prominent immunologist Professor Hidde Ploegh at MIT.
What is your main area(s) of interest/expertise?
My research aims to better understand virus-host interactions, with a particular emphasis on flaviviruses such as Dengue and Zika. I use functional proteomics to characterise host factors that are crucial for virus pathogenesis to gain insights not only into viral exploitation of cellular pathways and their strategies of evading host immunity, but also on fundamental host cell biology.
What are you working on right now?
We’re examining the role of cellular proteases in SARS-CoV-2 infection, and how the virus alters cellular protein post-translational modifications. Understanding this would give us a better idea of how CoV-2 spreads and how it suppresses immune responses in the host. It could also inform the development of inhibitors for CoV-2.
Why is Oxford a good place to work in this field of research?
Zika and Dengue are global menaces, with the latter infecting around 400 million a year. At present, there are no vaccines or therapeutics to treat them. With its strong vaccine base, Oxford was the perfect place to come and better understand these viruses so we can develop much needed treatments for these diseases.
Find out more about Sumana Sanyal: https://www.path.ox.ac.uk/content/sumana-sanyal-0