David G Courtney BSc PhD
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology, Queen’s University Belfast
UK Ambassador for the European Research Council
Molecular virologist and RNA biologist. David leads The Courtney Group at Queen’s University Belfast, which studies how influenza A virus RNA recruits host machinery to be modified, exported, translated and trafficked, and how those dependencies can be turned into RNA therapeutics and antivirals. His work on mRNA modifications such as m6A, m5C and pseudouridine, which control how well an mRNA is translated, bears directly on mRNA vaccines and medicines. He has won over €1.8M in competitive funding as sole PI, sits on BBSRC and European funding panels, and represents the United Kingdom as an Ambassador for the European Research Council.
1,418 citations · h-index 19 · 45 indexed works (OpenAlex, 2026-10-13)
Appointments
Founded The Courtney Group with an ERC Starting Grant.
High-throughput drug repurposing screens against SARS-CoV-2 in airway epithelial cells.
Developed methods to identify the host RNA-binding proteins of influenza A virus RNAs.
Showed how m6A and m5C RNA modifications regulate influenza A virus, HIV-1 and other viruses.
Twelve months in molecular expression and cell line development.
Education
The development of personalised medicines for corneal dystrophies (siRNA and CRISPR therapeutics).
Leadership and service
Competitively selected for the UKRI-funded programme that helps researchers test the commercial potential of their research through market discovery.
One of 32 ERC grantees chosen to make the case for frontier research to policymakers, the media and the research community.
Flagship event with panels featuring Nobel Laureate Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier and Prof Teresa Lambe OBE.
Invited ideation panel delegate (2023) and co-author of a commissioned paper (2024).
Grants and awards
€1,568,010 to establish The Courtney Group.
£458,574.
A research project run with secondary school pupils.
€260,000 to study m6A RNA methylation in influenza A virus replication and pathogenesis.
€7,600 for research stays in Italy and Denmark.
Patent applications
Using m6A-associated cellular machinery to boost transgene expression or viral replication.
Allele-specific CRISPR/Cas9 systems for treating corneal dystrophies.
Selected talks and events
Mentoring and leadership
- Mentored Dr Hannah Turkington to a competitive three-year BBSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2024).
- PhD graduates went straight to postdoctoral posts at the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen.
- MSc graduates have moved into government science roles, including Forensic Science NI.
- EMBO Laboratory Leadership course and UKRI Future Leaders Fellows leadership retreat (2024).
Public engagement and media
- Regular expert voice on BBC television and national radio during the COVID-19 pandemic, explaining viral mutation, immune escape and variant surveillance.
- Long-form articles for The Conversation reaching international readers.
- Works with regional health bodies and schools to promote influenza vaccination awareness.
Professional memberships
Microbiology Society · American Society for Virology · RNA Society
Selected publications
# co-senior author · * co-first author. Full list at davidgcourtney.com/publications and on ORCID.
- Bonazza S, Turkington HL, Sukumar S, Peate E, Coutts HL, Montgomery JJ, Hawthorn C, Getty EMPE, Touzelet O, Barabas J, Power UF, Courtney DG (2026). Myoferlin is a component of late-stage vRNP trafficking vesicles for enveloped RNA viruses. Nature Communications 17. Cited 1.
- Bonazza S, Courtney DG (2025). Influenza A virus RNA localisation and the interceding trafficking pathways of the host cell. PLoS Pathogens 21(4): e1013090. Cited 10.
- Bonazza S, Coutts HL, Sukumar S, Turkington HL, Courtney DG (2024). Identifying cellular RNA-binding proteins during infection uncovers a role for MKRN2 in influenza mRNA trafficking. PLoS Pathogens 20(5): e1012231. Cited 12.
- Dupont M, Krischuns T, Giai-Gianetto Q, Paisant S, Bonazza S, Brault J, Douché T, Perez-Perri JI, Hentze MW, Cusack S, Matondo M, Isel C, Courtney DG#, Naffakh N# (2024). The RBPome of influenza A virus mRNA reveals a role for TDP-43 in viral replication. Nucleic Acids Research. Cited 17.
- Coutts LH, Courtney DG (2024). Identifying individual pseudouridine (Ψ) sites across transcripts from HIV-1 infected cells. HIV Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2807.
- Courtney DG, Tsai K, Bogerd HP, et al. (2019). Epitranscriptomic regulation of HIV-1 gene expression by m5C. Cell Host & Microbe 26(2): 217–227. Cited 225.
- Courtney DG, Chalem A, Bogerd HP, et al. (2019). Extensive epitranscriptomic methylation of A and C residues on murine leukemia virus transcripts enhances viral gene expression. mBio 10(3): e01209-19. Cited 76.
- Courtney DG, Kennedy EM, Dumm RE, et al. (2017). Epitranscriptomic enhancement of influenza A virus gene expression and replication. Cell Host & Microbe 22(3): 377–386. Cited 228.
- Courtney DG, Moore JE, Atkinson SD, et al. (2015). CRISPR/Cas9 DNA cleavage at SNP-derived PAM enables both in vitro and in vivo KRT12 mutation-specific targeting. Gene Therapy 23(1): 108–112. Cited 124.
- Courtney DG, Toftgaard Poulsen E, Kennedy S, et al. (2015). Protein composition of TGFBI-R124C- and TGFBI-R555W-associated aggregates suggests multiple mechanisms leading to lattice and granular corneal dystrophy. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 56: 4653–4661. Cited 38.
Last updated 13 October 2026 · davidgcourtney.com