Virologist, University of Glasgow
Connor is a scientist studying how the immune system defends humans and other animals against disease-causing microbes like viruses, such as the hepatitis C virus, influenza virus and Zika virus.
Connor obtained his PhD in molecular virology at Queen's University Belfast in the lab of Paul Duprex. Here Connor investigated aspects of how the mumps virus causes disease by homing in certain parts of the virus needed for infection.
Since then, Connor works as a 'postdoctoral researcher' at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) in Scotland, UK in the hepatitis virus lab of Professor John McLauchlan. Here he looks at how certain parts of our own cells block incoming infections.
The CVR is one of the world's major institutes focusing on studying viruses. Connor's work here is funded by the Medical Research Council.
When not at the lab bench, Connor is committed to talking to people about his research, the world of viruses, and how science is carried out.
Not all people are equally vulnerable to hepatitis C – new study
Oct 17, 2018 22:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects around 1% of the human population and is a devastating pathogen. In most people, it silently infects the liver for decades, often causing life-threatening inflammation, scarring and even...
Ebola outbreak in DRC: are we better prepared this time?
May 13, 2018 07:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Health
Two cases of Ebola virus disease have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just one year after the country declared its last outbreak to be over. The outbreak is in the market town of Bikoro in...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight