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Endogenous viral elements

08 - 09 February 2027 09:00 - 17:00 Clayton Hotel, Birmingham Free
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Theo Murphy meeting organised by Dr Katy Brown, Dr Emma Harding and Professor Rachael Tarlinton

This meeting will discuss current endogenous viral element (EVE) research. EVEs are viruses which have become part of their host’s genome through germline integration, and can represent extinct or current viruses. We will discuss endogenous retroviral, RNA viral and DNA viral elements, including their diversity, roles in host biology and impacts on human and veterinary disease.

The programme, including speaker biographies and abstracts, will be available soon. Please note the programme may be subject to change.

Poster session

There will be a poster session on Monday 8 February 2027. Registered attendees will be invited to submit a proposed poster title and abstract (up to 200 words). Acceptances may be made on a rolling basis so we recommend submitting as soon as possible in case the session becomes full. Submissions made within one month of the meeting may not be included in the programme booklet.

Attending the event

This event is intended for researchers in relevant fields.

  • Free to attend and in-person only
  • When requesting an invitation, please briefly state your expertise and reasons for attending
  • Requests are reviewed by the meeting organisers on a rolling basis. You will receive a link to register if your request has been successful
  • Catering options will be available to purchase upon registering. Participants are responsible for booking their own accommodation
  • Please do not book accommodation until you have been invited to attend the meeting by the meeting organisers

Please note that scientific meetings hosted by the Royal Society do not necessarily represent a Royal Society position or signify an endorsement of the speakers or content presented.

Enquiries: Scientific Programmes team

Image credit © iStock.com / quantic69

 

Organisers

  • Professor Rachael Tarlinton

    Professor Rachael Tarlinton

    Rachael is a veterinary virologist who has worked on endogenous viruses since her PhD on koala retrovirus at the University of Sydney 20 years ago. She is based at the Vet School at the University of Nottingham where she teaches vet students and leads a research programme in animal viruses both endogenous and exogenous. Recent work includes koalas (KoRV), Humans (HERVs in multiple sclerosis), Sheep (Maedi Visna, Bluetongue and Schmallenberg), Cats (FeLV, feline morbillivirus) and assorted wildlife (Coronaviruses of mustelids, bats and hedgehogs). Her group focus on genomics and transcriptomics of both host and virus and she is particularly fascinated with the host genetics of viral resistance.
  • Dr Emma Harding

    Dr Emma Harding

    Emma has a background in molecular virology and begun her studies with the development of broad-spectrum antivirals against flavivirus RdRp proteins. Transitioning to bioinformatics during her PhD, she expanded her work to encompass workflow development, viral discovery and virus evolution. She completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia and now works at the University of Oxford in the paleovirology lab with Professor Aris Katzourakis.

    Using and developing bioinformatic methods, her current work integrates endogenous viral elements to answer questions about viral molecular evolution, host immunity, horizontal gene transfer and vertebrate genomics.
  • Dr Katy Brown

    Dr Katy Brown

    Katy is a postdoctoral researcher and bioinformatician in the Virology Division, Department of Pathology, at the University of Cambridge, where she works with Prof Andrew Firth. Her research focuses on the discovery of RNA viruses in public sequencing datasets, particularly those from non-model organisms, with a special interest in endogenous RNA viral elements (EVEs). More recently, she has been investigating EVEs in butterflies and moths. She is also interested in developing approaches to integrate EVE data with other types of genome annotation.

    Katy has worked on EVEs periodically throughout her research career, beginning with her PhD, completed in 2014, which focused on endogenous retroviruses in primates. Before joining Cambridge, she was a member of the Computational Genomics Analysis and Training (CGAT) team at the University of Oxford.