Peter Wing

Oxygen is an essential metabolite for life given its fundamental role in aerobic respiration. As such cells acutely detect variations in oxygen levels through an evolutionarily conserved signalling cascade orchestrated by hypoxic inducible factors (HIFs), which rapidly alters the cellular transcriptome to promote survival. Many viral infections encounter variable oxygen levels that impact their replication through changing key cellular processes they rely on to replicate.

At present I lead a program of work dedicated to understanding the molecular mechanisms governing the interplay between the cellular hypoxic response and viruses with pandemic potential such as coronaviruses and henipaviruses both in primary and zoonotic hosts. Through bridging these two areas of biology, viral replication in bats and cellular oxygen sensing, the goal of my research is to uncover innovative strategies for preventing and managing highly pathogenic zoonotic viral infections.