Whelan lab

Ó Faoláin Lab

Centre for Immunobiology and Infection

Blizard Institute

Queen Mary University London

Understanding how pathogens and disease hijack nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and the nuclear periphery to alter cell fate.

Bright purple and yellow nebula with green spots in outer space.
Nighttime photo of a large, glowing, purple semblance of a molecule or atomic structure with some bright spots in orange and green.

HIV-1 Nuclear Pore Complex

Understanding how pathogens and disease hijack nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and the nuclear periphery to alter cell fate.

Remodelling of the nuclear pore complex during HIV-1 infection

Remodelling of the Nuclear Envelope during Viral Synapse formation in T cells

Primary T cell nuclear import and export dynamics

A side-by-side comparison of two microscopic images showing the neural structure of a dill pickle. The left image depicts the neural network before treatment and the right image after treatment, with the neural pathways highlighted in bright colors against a dark background.
A scientific chart titled 'NPC Mean Intensity' displaying data points in three clusters with different colors, labeled 'A', 'B', and 'B + Inhibitor,' showing raw units on the y-axis and numerical values.

Developing and applying live-cell, super-resolution microscopy approaches and advanced image analysis. Transforming images into numbers to uncover manipulation of the host during infection

B

A

Current funding

A colorful microscopic image of a developing live cell infected with a virus, showing red, green, blue, and purple fluorescence, with overlaid text describing it as a super-resolution imaging of virus infection at scale.
Text on a black background with rounded border reads: 'Track the fate of individual viral particles during infection in real time, at scale'.
The image contains a message about implementing a high-content, super-resolution, live-cell imaging platform.
Text explaining how HIV-1 hijacks nucleocytoplasmic trafficking in CD4+ T cells to replicate.

Wellcome Early Career Award

Future Work

Other Viruses (EBV)

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Genetic Disease (Progeria, RD)

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Immune Synapses

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Other Viruses (EBV) - Genetic Disease (Progeria, RD) - Immune Synapses -

Microscopic view of a virus particle stained with fluorescent dyes, showing a spherical shape with pink and purple coloration.

Regulation of the Nuclear Pore Complex and nucleocytoplasmic trafficking underpins all cell biology processes.

Understanding and manipulating their dynamics can inform all infection research and beyond