Paul Farrell

Biography

My research is mostly on mechanisms by which the human tumour virus Epstein-Barr Virus causes human cells to proliferate and the role of the virus in human cancers. Epstein-Barr virus is a human herpesvirus that infects most people in the world early in life and then persists life-long. Primary EBV infection that is delayed until adolescence or adulthood frequently causes infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever). Most carriers of EBV show no symptoms or pathology but in some circumstances EBV is associated with human cancers, the virus normally being present in all of the tumour cells of an EBV associated case. These cancers include lymphomas in immunosuppressed people (either as a result of medication after transplant surgery or AIDS), Hodgkin's disease, Burkitt's lymphoma in central Africa, nasopharyngeal carcinoma in South-East Asia and some gastric carcinomas. EBV infects human B lymphocytes and certain epithelial cells; infection of lymphocytes is readily accomplished in the laboratory and EBV drives the cells into a state of permanent proliferation

Research Interest

Molecular Virology