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.
News
What the lab has been up to
Papers accepted, conferences, graduations and our work in the community. Follow along by RSS.
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.
Our Myoferlin paper is out in Nature Communications
We show that the host protein Myoferlin is part of the late-stage vesicles that carry influenza genomes towards the cell surface, and that other enveloped RNA viruses use it too.
David promoted to Senior Lecturer
David's promotion to Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology at Queen's University Belfast became official on 1 September 2025.
Congratulations to our first PhD graduates
Dr Stefano Bonazza and Dr Hannah Coutts, the first two PhD students in The Courtney Group, graduated from Queen's University Belfast.
Talking viruses and handwashing at the Balmoral Show
Members of the lab joined the Queen's University Belfast stand at the Balmoral Show to talk to visitors about the viruses that make us sick and why washing our hands matters.
The lab runs a marathon relay
The lab swapped pipettes for running shoes and took on a marathon relay together, with one significant other and a fellow respiratory virologist roped in to make up the team.
David appointed UK Ambassador for the ERC
David is one of 32 ERC grantees chosen for the new Ambassadors for the ERC network, representing the United Kingdom as an advocate for frontier research.
Review on influenza RNA trafficking in PLoS Pathogens
We review how influenza A virus RNAs find their way around the infected cell, and the host trafficking pathways they borrow along the way.
Dr Hannah Turkington awarded a BBSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Hannah has won a BBSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to study how influenza vRNPs are trafficked in the animals that act as important reservoirs of flu. A very nice Christmas present.
MKRN2 helps move influenza mRNA, published in PLoS Pathogens
By capturing the cellular proteins that bind viral RNA during infection, we uncovered a role for MKRN2 in trafficking influenza mRNA.
TDP-43 and influenza mRNA, with Institut Pasteur, in Nucleic Acids Research
A collaboration with Nadia Naffakh's lab at Institut Pasteur maps the proteins bound to influenza mRNA and finds a role for TDP-43 in viral replication.
ERC Starting Grant to study how flu viruses hijack our cells
David was awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant of over €1.5 million for a five-year project, the funding that founded The Courtney Group at Queen's.
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