News from the lab

I attended ESCAIDE 2025 in Warsaw, a key European meeting on infectious disease surveillance and public health. The conference provided an excellent platform to exchange knowledge, engage with leading experts, and explore emerging trends in epidemiology.

We looked at how key SARS-CoV-2 variant waves interact with human nasal cells, where infection begins. Using multiple “omics” approaches, we found that each variant reshapes immune and metabolic responses in different ways. Omicron seems to strike a balance: it still replicates efficiently but triggers a more restrained antiviral and metabolic reaction. This may help explain its high transmissibility and generally reduced severity.

The study was a collaboration between our lab at University of Essex, Wendy Barclay’s group at Imperial College London, Charalampos (Babis) Rallis group at Queen Mary University of London and the Markus Ralser group at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Luo DS, Zhou ZJ, Ge XY, Bourhy H, Giotis ES, Grandadam M, Shi ZL, Dacheux L. Genomic characterization of three unclassified rhabdoviruses from mosquitoes in Malaysia and Central Africa. Virol Sin. 2025 Nov 14:S1995-820X(25)00157-9. doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2025.11.003. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41242613.

Had a great time with the West Yorkshire Bat Group yesterday in Cleckheaton, near Bradford, talking about bat conservation and research. Really exciting to be working with them and the Quadram Institute on the bat microbiome project; learning more about these amazing animals and the world they live in. Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and inspiring chat!

We’re delighted to share that Safe Humans, Safe Bats: Community and School Engagement in Gombe State, Nigeria has secured a University of Essex Engagement & Impact Fund award. From January–June 2026, our team will deliver school workshops, train teachers and community health volunteers, and co-create practical resources that support safer human–bat interactions and bat conservation. Updates and materials will be posted here as the project progresses.

Stathis Giotis has contributed to this
@Independent
article on how climate change could influence the emergence of future pandemics.
@SBanatvala https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/climate-change-covid-thrive-variants-b2788526.html

Mini-lab summer outing to Clacton-on-Sea 🌊☀️; not the full team this time, but great laughs, sandy shoes, and sea air were in full supply!

Stathis Giotis served as the External Examiner for the PhD viva of Dr Gemma Cooper from Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar’s lab at De Montfort University. Congratulations to Dr Cooper on a successful defence of her thesis. Wishing her continued success in her scientific career.

Today, Dongsheng Luo and I had the pleasure of visiting the Glycosciences Lab, where we were warmly welcomed for lunch and stimulating conversations. It was a real joy to exchange ideas on science and beyond. It was also a pleasure to meet Ilaria Liguori, a future PhD student at the Glycosciences lab within the AUREUS MSCA network, alongside Yan Liu and the team.

Stathis Giotis has been accepted as an editor for the Journal of Transboundary and Emerging Diseases

Our recent symposium in Abuja brought together scientists, students, policymakers and public health experts and caught the attention of national Nigerian media.
Watch the TVC News coverage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBcXWFM2MYc
Together with local partners, we’re working to raise awareness, reduce risky contact with bats, and promote conservation through education and research.
Learn more: www.safehumanssafebats.org
Thank you to all who helped make this event a success. Onward - across Nigeria and beyond.

Grateful to everyone who joined us in Abuja for the Safe Humans, Safe Bats symposium, a collaborative effort to protect public health and biodiversity in Nigeria. Watch the full symposium here: https://www.youtube.com/live/ZJeb_GxGtTA

Over 250 people attended online and in person, with support from the Nigerian Ministry of Health, researchers, and community leaders. We had rich conversations about reducing zoonotic disease risk while promoting conservation.

Special thanks to all our partners (SMACON, JOSTUM, WAR AGAINST RABIES, UK Bat Conservation Trust, University of Abuja and University of Essex) and to the Nigerian Health Ministry media teams who helped document this milestone.

The highlight was being named a prince of the Tiv tribe and wearing the traditional outfit: what an honour!!!

As part of the Safe Humans, Safe Bats initiative, we had the honour of meeting with Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Honourable Minister of Livestock Development, Nigeria.

Our discussion focused on how bat conservation intersects with livestock health, rural livelihoods, and national development goals. The Minister expressed strong interest in integrating bat-related research and disease surveillance with broader livestock and public health strategies.

We're grateful for the Minister’s warm welcome and support. Collaborating with national leadership is critical to ensuring our efforts are impactful, sustainable, and aligned with Nigeria's long-term vision. This meeting strengthens our resolve to expand the initiative nationwide and foster meaningful science-policy partnerships.

Many thanks to the Ministry and its staff for their hospitality and shared commitment to One Health.

As part of the Safe Humans, Safe Bats initiative, our team had the privilege of visiting the National Parks Service of Nigeria in Abuja to foster collaboration and build long-term partnerships for conservation and public health.

We had a productive meeting with the Conservator-General and senior leadership of the Service, where we discussed the importance of safeguarding bat habitats and preventing spillover events through education, ecological monitoring, and joint action.

The National Parks Service plays a vital role in protecting Nigeria’s biodiversity, and we are grateful for their warm reception and openness to supporting science-driven, community-based initiatives.

Together, we aim to promote a One Health approach that benefits both people and ecosystems.

Great to take part in the Viral Pseudotype Unit (VPU) Annual Meeting at the University of Sussex — a fantastic platform bringing together researchers working on pseudotype technologies across virology, vaccines, and diagnostics. Thanks to the organisers for a stimulating day and to all colleagues for the great discussions and ideas shared. Looking forward to what comes next!

As part of the Safe Humans, Safe Bats initiative, we carried out inspiring outreach activities in schools across Makurdi, Nigeria: engaging students, teachers, and local communities on bat conservation, public health, and the importance of coexisting safely with wildlife.

Huge thanks to the dedicated local teams, faculty members, and volunteers who made this possible. It’s been incredible to see the enthusiasm and curiosity of the students, a reminder that education is the first step towards meaningful change.

We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Dongsheng Luo to our lab at the University of Essex as an MRC NIRG-funded postdoc. Dongsheng brings rich experience from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Institut Pasteur, and LSHTM, with a focus on virus evolution, zoonoses, and virus-host interactions. His work will focus on decoding the mild pathobiology of common cold coronaviruses to identify pan-coronavirus antiviral targets.

Welcome aboard, Dongsheng!

Stathis Giotis presented his research at WSV2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the Third International Conference of the World Society for Virology. His talk, titled "Metabolic reprogramming in nasal epithelial cells by SARS-CoV-2 variants: Implications for replication and host response," highlighted how different SARS-CoV-2 variants alter host cell metabolism and immune responses, with potential consequences for viral replication and disease outcomes.

Many thanks to AMI for the Scientific Event Travel Grant that supported Stathis Giotis's visit and participation in WSV2025 in Kuala Lumpur.

Thrilled to share that Deimante Ramonaite from our lab has been shortlisted for the
@shecancode
STEM Role Model Award! Her passion for science communication & inspiring STEM girls is incredible. Vote for her here: https://lnkd.in/evSZvG7E #WomenInSTEM #STEMAwards #SheCanCode

Exciting news! Our new website for the Safe Humans Safe Bats Nigeria Initiative is now live! Explore how we’re combining bat conservation with public health to build safer, healthier ecosystems. https://safehumanssafebats.org #BatConservation #Zoonoses #PublicHealth #Nigeria
​

Oluchi Ogudo of SMACON has completed the sociological survey in Makurdi Schools. This ttok place during February-March 2025 and is part of the Safe Humans Safe Bats Initiative, funded by the University of Essex

Stathis Giotis presented Bat to the Future: Untangling the Origins of COVID-19 & the Risk of Future Outbreaksat Café Scientifique at Colchester
On March 12, 2025, Dr. Stathis Giotis spoke at Café Scientifique at Colchester, exploring the role of bats in the emergence of viruses like COVID-19. His talk delved into the scientific evidence surrounding the origins of the pandemic, the mechanisms that make bats unique viral hosts, and the ongoing risks of future outbreaks.
http://cafescientifique.org/uk/colchester

Dr. Giotis has contributed expert commentary on a groundbreaking new study examining the bat coronavirus HKU5. The research highlights that HKU5 utilises the same receptor as SARS-CoV-2 to enter human cells. Comments have been distributed across UK and international media: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/health/scientist-verdict-new-bat-coronavirus-31095620
https://www.t-online.de/gesundheit/aktuelles/id_100613764/china-neues-fledermaus-coronavirus-entdeckt-risiko-einer-pandemie-.html
http://www.msn.com/de-de/gesundheit/other/china-neues-fledermaus-coronavirus-entdeckt-risiko-einer-pandemie/ar-AA1zUyMT?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1
https://www.aerzteblatt.de/news/fachleute-reagieren-interessiert-aber-ohne-aufregung-auf-neues-coronavirus-36e53692-de0a-4c38-addd-e5811f69cfc1

Excited to kickoff the SafeHumans SafeBats initiative in Nigeria funded by @Uni_of_Essex
Huge thanks to @smaconbats, @UniAbuja, Uni of Makurdi, @infoabu2014, @_BCT_, and all our amazing partners for joining us on this mission to protect health and biodiversity #BenueTwitter

Great fun having our Christmas do with the lab team in Maldon, Essex! A perfect way to celebrate the season and an amazing year of hard work

Stathis Giotis received an Impact Accelerator Fund 2024-2025 from the University of Essex (£10,000; PI) “SaveBats Nigeria: Reducing bat hunting through community-based conservation and public health advocacy in Nigeria.

Stathis Giotis gave a talk to @UniOfSurrey Section of Virology

Stathis Giotis was a co-I in a successful bid to Sir Jules Thorn Charitable trust "A translational research radiation facility to tackle cancer and viral infections" https://julesthorntrust.org.uk/

Congratulations to Alfred Ho on completing his PhD through a collaboration between
@imperialcollege and the @HKUniversity Graduating in Hong Kong marks an incredible achievement. Well done, Alfred!

Tukur Abdullahi attended the African Virology Conference in Abuja from November 25-28, 2024, themed “Trends in emerging and re-emerging viruses.” He presented part of his PhD research, titled “Differential type I IFN response and the effect of temperature on OC43".

Stathis Giotis had a fantastic experience at the Single-Cell & Spatial RNA Sequencing workshop at the
@EarlhamInst! The hands-on sessions and cutting-edge insights were invaluable. Huge thanks to the team for making it such a rewarding event!

BioRxiv paper https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.06.616852v1.full.pdf

Had a fantastic time speaking at the #AvianImmunology Research Group Meeting in Vienna 2024! Great conference with insightful talks and engaging discussions. https://www.airg2024.at/​​​​​​​​

Excited to share that we've been awarded a Royal Society grant to develop a reverse genetics system for common cold coronaviruses. Looking forward to getting started on this project! Thank you Royal Society!

Excited to announce that we've been awarded an MRC NIRG to study single-cell RNA-sequencing and seasonal coronaviruses in collaboration with @uclh and @UKHSA. Stay tuned—there will be a postdoc position available soon for anyone interested in joining our team.

Stathis Giotis has talked to local Essex media (Basildon Echo, Colchester gazette) and radio stations (Heart FM and Greatest Hits radio) about the mPox outbreak https://hellorayo.co.uk/hits-radio/uk/news/disease-expert-from-university-of-essex-says-we-must-raise-public-awareness-to-mpox-formerly-monkey-pox-to-prevent-spread/

Congratulations to Deimante Ramonaityte on successfully completing her BSc in Biomedical Sciences! Deimante will be joining us for an MRes in the next lab. Also, congratulations to Dami Ogunjinmi on successfully completing her MRes! Her hard work and dedication in our lab have been inspiring.Well done, Deimante and Dami!​​​​​​​​

Stathis Giotis presented a talk on androgens and viruses at #PintOfScience at The 3 wise monkeys bar in Colchester​

Stathis Giotis contributed to an article published in The Telegraph on 16th of April: How migraines, flu and heart attacks affect women and men differently
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/conditions/cold-flu/everyday-illnesses-affect-men-and-women-differently-flu/​​

Our latest study, now out in @JMedVirol, delves into enzalutamide's potential as an antiviral against human coronaviruses, revealing insights into viral-Androgen Receptor signalling
Ogunjinmi OD, Abdullahi T, Somji R-A, Bevan CL, Barclay WS, Temperton N, Brooke GN, Giotis ES. The antiviral potential of the antiandrogen enzalutamide and the viral-androgen signalling interplay in seasonal coronaviruses. J Med Virol. 2024; 96:e29540. doi:10.1002/jmv.29540​

Stathis Giotis has contributed to an article by Maeve Cullinan at the Telegraph about a fatal case of Alaskapox virus https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/elderly-man-becomes-first-recorded-death-from-alaskapox/​​

Stathis Giotis has been elected as Treasurer for Europe by the World Society of Virology
https://ws-virology.org/third-wsv-election/​

Our Lab Xmas outing rocked! Post-UCL virtual virology event hangout with
Nigel Temperton as guest star was a blast. Cheers to an awesome crew!

New preprint from our lab; Investigating enzalutamide, a prostate cancer treatment, as a potential antiviral against common cold coronaviruses, we provide further evidence of an interplay between viruses and androgen signaling https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.25.568685v1

A new collaborative study in which GiotisLab was part of was accepted at Frontiers in Public Health https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1283113/abstract

Tukur Abdullahi won the 2nd prize for the best Graduate Forum presentation of the University of Essex 2023. Well done Tukur!!​​​​

Stathis Giotis presented the latest work of the lab on androgens and viral susceptibility at the meeting on Viral Pseudotypes at Nottingham.​​​​​​

Professor Nelson Fernandez presented the results of our joint PhD student Tukur Abdullahi at the Immunopharmacology Convention 2023 in Varadero, Cuba.

Stathis Giotis was invited to give a talk at the Biosciences Conference at the University of East London

Stathis Giotis presented our recent work on bat viruses at the WSV2023 in Riga, Latvia

Riaz Somji and Tukur Abdullahi presented their work on mTOR and host innate immune responses to seasonal coronaviruses at the Microbiology Society annual conference in Birmingham

Lab outing to the 3 wise monkeys in Colchester​​​​​

A review paper was published in Viruses; Giotis, E.S.; Cil, E.; Brooke, G.N. Use of Antiandrogens as Therapeutic Agents in COVID-19 Patients. Viruses2022, 14, 2728. https://doi.org/10.3390/v141227280

Great meeting on pseudotyping by VPU at NIBSC

Stathis Giotis is accepted as a member of the UKRI/BBSRC panel of experts.

A preprint review on anti androgens as COVID-19 was released in collaboration with Greg Brooke's group at Essex
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202211.0075/v1

Celebrating the retirement of Professor Mike Skinner at Imperial College. Happy retirement Mike!

Celebrating our last lab meeting for the Summer and the heatwave in Essex

Stathis Giotis contributed to an article by Helen Collis at politico.eu about monkeypox and vaccines
https://www.politico.eu/article/countries-administer-monkeypox-vaccine-as-who-warns-of-limited-supplies/

Riaz Somji and Tiffany Teoh joined our lab to do a PhD (3-years) and Masters by Dissertation (MSD; 1 year) respectively.
Wellcome!

Ogunjinmi (Dami) Oluwadamilola and Stathis Giotis presented (poster and oral presentations) at the annual conference of the UK Microbiology Society, which was held in Belfast (4-7 April 2022).

​Tukur Abdullahi from Nigeria is the newest member of our lab. His PhD will be focused on the comparative host innate responses to seasonal coronaviruses.

Our paper 'Naïve Human Macrophages Are Refractory to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Exhibit a Modest Inflammatory Response Early in Infection' is now published in Viruses
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/2/441

A new preprint was released on bioRxiv: Primary human macrophages exhibit a modest inflammatory response early in SARS-CoV-2 infection
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.02.478897v1

Stathis Giotis, David Matthews and Jacqueline Smith are editors of the research topic 'Host innate immune responses to infections by avian- and bat-borne viruses volume II' in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/31807/host-innate-immune-responses-to-infections-by-avian--and-bat-borne-viruses-volume-ii
​https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09x4zlr

Stathis Giotis was interviewed by the BBC Essex radio morning show about COVID-19 vaccines and the need to reintroduce some restriction measures in light of the rising cases of COVID-19
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09x4zlr

Stathis Giotis spoke on BBC London about the Omicron variant and the recently introduced measures to slow its spread in the UK
​https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09x4zlr

Just wrapped up the last lab meeting of the summer! Exciting updates, brilliant ideas, and a great way to close out the season. Enjoy the summer everybody!