The Courtney Group, led by Dr David Courtney at Queen’s University Belfast, studies how influenza A virus hijacks host RNA machinery, and how that knowledge can lead to RNA therapeutics and fairer access to treatments and vaccines.https://davidgcourtney.com/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/lab-over-the-years/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/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.Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTLab lifehttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-icure-discover/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-icure-discover/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.Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTFundingAwardshttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-erc-visit-in-conversation/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-erc-visit-in-conversation/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.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTConferencesCitizenshiphttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-myoferlin-nature-communications/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2026-myoferlin-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.Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTPapershttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-senior-lecturer/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-senior-lecturer/David's promotion to Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology at Queen's University Belfast became official on 1 September 2025.Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTAwardshttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-first-phd-graduates/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-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.Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTGraduationshttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-balmoral-show/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-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.Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTCitizenshiphttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-marathon-relay/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-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.Sun, 04 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTLab lifehttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-erc-ambassador/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-erc-ambassador/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.Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTAwardsCitizenshiphttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-plos-pathogens-review/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2025-plos-pathogens-review/We review how influenza A virus RNAs find their way around the infected cell, and the host trafficking pathways they borrow along the way.Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTPapershttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-hannah-turkington-bbsrc-fellowship/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-hannah-turkington-bbsrc-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.Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTFundingAwardshttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-mkrn2-plos-pathogens/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-mkrn2-plos-pathogens/By capturing the cellular proteins that bind viral RNA during infection, we uncovered a role for MKRN2 in trafficking influenza mRNA.Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 GMTPapershttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-tdp43-nar/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2024-tdp43-nar/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.Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMTPapershttps://davidgcourtney.com/news/2020-erc-starting-grant/https://davidgcourtney.com/news/2020-erc-starting-grant/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.Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMTFundingAwards