Prof Richard Randall

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 463397

Email

rer@st-andrews.ac.uk

Research areas

Following infection with a virus the body mounts innate and adaptive (e.g. antibodies) immune response that are critical in controlling the infection. Immediately following infection, cells begin to respond to viruses by producing a substance called interferon (IFN). The IFN system is an extremely powerful anti-viral response that if it worked as it was supposed to could probably control most, if not all, virus infections in the absence of the adaptive immune response. However, it rarely works correctly because all viruses have ways and means of at least partially circumvent the IFN response. Many viruses do so by producing products (usually proteins) that interfere with different parts of the IFN system. We are particular concerned with better understanding at the molecular level how influenza viruses and paramyxoviruses (e.g. mumps, measles, parainfluenza viruses) circumvent the IFN response. Not only are such studies of fundamental interest they may also point ways forward to better methods of controlling virus infections. For example, by knocking out the ability of a virus to circumvent the IFN response the virus will be weakened and unable to cause disease. However, such weakened (attenuated) viruses if injected will induce an adaptive immune response that will protect from subsequent infection by the natural (virulent) viruses. Thus such IFN-sensitive viruses may be further developed as attenuated virus vaccines. Furthermore, novel anti-viral drugs might be developed which prevent viruses from circumventing the IFN response. 

PhD supervision

• Andrew Seaton

Selected publications

• Direct antiviral activity of interferon stimulated genes is responsible for resistance to paramyxoviruses in ISG15-deficient cells

  Holthaus, D., Vasou, A., Bamford, C., Andrejeva, J., Paulus, C., Randall, R. E., McLauchlan, J. & Hughes, D. J., 18 May 2020, In : The Journal of Immunology. 11 p., ji1901472.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Innate intracellular antiviral responses restrict the amplification of defective virus genomes of parainfluenza virus type 5

  Wignall-Fleming, E. B., Vasou, A., Young, D., Short, J. A. L., Hughes, D. J., Goodbourn, S. & Randall, R. E., 16 Jun 2020, In : Journal of Virology. 94, 13, 15 p., 00246-20.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Analysis of paramyxovirus transcription and replication by high-throughput sequencing

  Wignall-Fleming, E. B., Hughes, D. J., Vattipally, S., Modha, S., Goodbourn, S., Davison, A. J. & Randall, R. E., 13 Aug 2019, In : Journal of Virology. 93, 17, 17 p., e00571-19.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Severe type I interferonopathy and unrestrained interferon signaling due to a homozygous germline mutation in STAT2

  Duncan, C. J. A., Thompson, B. J., Chen, R., Rice, G. I., Gothe, F., Young, D. F., Lovell, S. C., Shuttleworth, V. G., Brocklebank, V., Corner, B., Skelton, A. J., Bondet, V., Coxhead, J., Duffy, D., Fourrage, C., Livingston, J. H., Pavaine, J., Cheesman, E., Bitetti, S., Grainger, A., Acres, M., Innes, B. A., Mikulasova, A., Sun, R., Hussain, R., Wright, R., Wynn, R., Zarhrate, M., Zeef, L. A. H., Wood, K., Hughes, S. M., Harris, C. L., Engelhardt, K. R., Crow, Y. J., Randall, R. E., Kavanagh, D., Hambleton, S. & Briggs, T. A., 13 Dec 2019, In : Science Immunology. 4, 42, eaav7501.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• The switch between acute and persistent paramyxovirus infection caused by single amino acid substitutions in the RNA polymerase P subunit

  Young, D. F., Wignall-Fleming, E. B., Busse, D. C., Pickin, M. J., Hankinson, J., Randall, E. M., Tavendale, A., Davison, A. J., Lamont, D., Tregoning, J. S., Goodbourn, S. & Randall, R. E., 11 Feb 2019, In : PLoS Pathogens. 15, 2, 24 p., e1007561.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Unusual, stable replicating viruses generated from mumps virus cDNA clones

  Bamford, C., Wignall-Fleming, E., Sreenu, V. B., Randall, R., Duprex, P. & Rima, B., 5 Jul 2019, In : PLoS ONE. 14, 7, 14 p., e0219168.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Mini viral RNAs act as innate immune agonists during influenza virus infection

  te Velthuis, A. J. W., Long, J. C., Bauer, D. L. V., Fan, R. L. Y., Yen, H. L., Sharps, J., Siegers, J. Y., Killip, M. J., French, H., Oliva-Martín, M. J., Randall, R. E., de Wit, E., van Riel, D., Poon, L. L. M. & Fodor, E., Nov 2018, In : Nature Microbiology. 3, p. 1234?1242

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Modular cell-based platform for high throughput identification of compounds that inhibit a viral interferon antagonist of choice

  Vasou, A., Paulus, C., Narloch, J., Gage, Z. O., Rameix-Welti, M-A., Eléouët, J-F., Nevels, M., Randall, R. E. & Adamson, C. S., Feb 2018, In : Antiviral Research. 150, p. 79-92

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Human interactome of the influenza B virus NS1 protein

  Patzina, C., Botting, C. H., García-Sastre, A., Randall, R. E. & Hale, B. G., 1 Sep 2017, In : Journal of General Virology. 98, 9, p. 2267-2273 7 p., 000909.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Single-cell studies of IFN-? promoter activation by wildtype and NS1-defective influenza A viruses

  Killip, M. J., Jackson, D., Pérez - Cidoncha, M., Fofor, E. & Randall, R. E., Mar 2017, In : Journal of General Virology. 98, 3, p. 357-363 7 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

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