WEHI Special Structural Biology Seminar hosted by Professor Peter Czabotar

Dr Antoni Wrobel
Group Leader – Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK

Molecular mechanisms of viral entry underlying viral evolution and host change

L3C Seminar Room

Join via TEAMS

Including Q&A session

Enveloped viruses, including coronaviruses and influenza A viruses (IAVs), have adapted to use protein and carbohydrate receptors to enter host cells. The spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 mediates viral entry into host cells by facilitating virus attachment and membrane fusion. ACE2 is the main receptor of SARS-CoV-2 and its interaction with the spike has shaped the virus’ emergence from an animal reservoir and subsequent evolution in the human host. I will present our studies on the spikes of animal coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2, as well as SARS-CoV-2 variants, describing mechanisms that have optimised the spike:receptor interaction during viral evolution. I will also describe my current research programme focused on understanding how viruses adapt to new receptor types, which is the key determinant for which hosts they infect. In particular, I will show our recent data on how influenza haemagglutinin recognises a protein receptor, demonstrating surprising plasticity of the receptor:IAV interactions. Overall, the talk will offer insights into the emergence and evolution of pandemic viruses.

Antoni moved to the UK from Poland in 2007 to read Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. Here he developed interests in structural biology and mechanistic virology, which he pursued further as a Wellcome Trust ‘Infection and Immunity’ PhD Scholar at Cambridge. He completed his PhD in the group of David Owen FRS at the Cambridge Institute of Medical Research providing new insights into the mechanisms of initiation and regulation of endocytosis. His interests then led him to the Gamblin lab at the Francis Crick Institute, where he worked on influenza with Sir John Skehel FRS and learned cryoEM with Peter Rosenthal. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Antoni refocused his research programme and provided key new insights into the mechanisms and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 spike interaction with its receptor ACE2. Antoni is now returning to the Oxford Biochemistry Department and is currently establishing a group there funded by a generous Career Development Award from the Wellcome Trust. The Wrobel lab will continue to work on coronaviruses and study influenza viruses to understand at the structural level how their proteins achieve the versatility needed to infect diverse hosts. In particular, they want to explain how related viral strains use similar glycoproteins to engage receptors as different as glycans and proteins, and to understand the molecular principles of viral assembly.

All welcome!