The lab over the years
Faces change as students graduate and new people join, but the spirit of the group stays the same. A look back at our team photos.
The Courtney Group · Queen’s University Belfast
How influenza hijacks the cell, one RNA at a time.
Led by Dr David Courtney, we are a molecular virology lab working on the host machinery that influenza A virus RNA relies on, and on how that knowledge can lead to new RNA therapeutics.
What we work on
Fundamental virology with an eye on the clinic
Fundamental
How influenza commandeers the cell
Influenza A virus carries only a handful of genes. We study the host proteins its RNA recruits to be modified, exported, translated and carried to the cell surface.
TranslationalFrom RNA biology to RNA medicines
Interactions that every influenza A virus depends on are promising targets. We look for ways to turn them into advanced RNA therapeutics and new antivirals.
EquitableTreatments and vaccines for everyone
New medicines matter only if people can get them. We think early about how future antivirals and vaccines can reach the communities that need them most.
2021Group founded at Queen’s University Belfast
€1.57MERC Starting Grant funding our core programme
21school and undergraduate students hosted for placements
8genome segments in every influenza A virus, each one an RNA
Our research has been funded by
Latest news
From the lab
David selected as an Innovate UK ICURe Entrepreneurial Lead
David has won a competitive place as an Entrepreneurial Lead on ICURe Discover, the UKRI-funded Innovate UK programme that helps researchers explore the commercial potential of their work.
Hosting the European Research Council in Belfast
David hosted an "In Conversation" event with Nobel Laureate Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier and Professor Teresa Lambe OBE during the ERC Scientific Council's first visit to Northern Ireland.
Principal Investigator
Dr David Courtney
David is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology at Queen’s University Belfast. He trained in molecular biology at Ulster University, then worked on viral RNA modifications at Duke University and Institut Pasteur as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow before founding The Courtney Group in 2021.
His work has appeared in Cell Host & Microbe, Nature Communications, Nucleic Acids Research and PLoS Pathogens.
He is also the UK Ambassador for the European Research Council.
Citizenship
Science belongs to everyone
We open the lab to school pupils and undergraduates from all backgrounds, run projects with local schools, and talk about viruses wherever people want to listen.
