Dobson Junior Research Fellow in Molecular Biophysics Dr Sean Burnap has been awarded a Wellcome Early Career Award to support his research project into Filovirus-host interactions.
Dr Burnap’s research project, entitled ‘Exploring Filovirus-host interactions at single cell resolution’, seeks to address challenges in understanding how enveloped viruses, such as Filoviruses (including the Ebola and Marburg viruses), interact with host cells. Filoviruses are coated with highly glycosylated glycoproteins—commonly referred to as ‘spikes’—that interact with glycoproteins on host cell surfaces and organelle membranes. Glycans play a dual role in these interactions: they mediate the initial contact between virus and host and also mask viral epitopes under dense ‘glycan shields’ to avoid immune detection.
Traditional structural techniques often struggle to study glycan-mediated interactions due to the flexibility of glycans and the complexity of membrane environments. Dr Burnap’s project introduces a new approach to address these challenges by combining metabolic glycoprotein engineering with cross-linking mass spectrometry. This method will map interactions between glycans or glycoproteins and their partners at a single-cell level.
Dr Burnap will use advanced timsTOF-based mass spectrometry and single-cell proteomics to track Filovirus-host interactions throughout the viral lifecycle at high resolution. By improving our understanding of these processes, the project aims to provide valuable insights into viral evolution and host adaptation, supporting the development of antiviral and therapeutic strategies.
The Wellcome Early Career Award provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline who are seeking to develop their own distinct research identity. They aim to fund innovative new projects that will lead to shifts in understanding in areas related to human life, health and wellbeing, and to support early-career researchers in developing the skills and experience they need to lead their own independent research programmes.
Dr Burnap is part of the Struwe Lab in the University of Oxford’s Department of Biochemistry. He joined LMH in 2023 as one of two new Dobson Junior Research Fellows in Molecular Biophysics, named in honour of the late Professor Sir Chris Dobson, Fellow and Tutor in Chemistry at LMH from 1980 to 2001. These early-career posts were made possible thanks to the generous support of members of our alumni community, as well as friends and colleagues of Professor Dobson, who donated to the Chris Dobson Research Fund.
