Edward C. Holmes | |
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Born | [1] | 26 February 1965
Alma mater |
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Known for | Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach [2] |
Awards | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Pattern and Process in the Molecular Evolution of the Order Primates (1990) |
Academic advisors | Adrian Friday [1] |
Website | sydney |
Edward Charles Holmes FRS FAA [6] (born 26 February 1965) [1] is a British evolutionary biologist and virologist. Since 2012, he has been a fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia and professor at the University of Sydney. [5] [7] [8] He was an honorary visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, from 2019-2021. [9]
Holmes was educated at University College London where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology in 1986. [1] He then moved to the University of Cambridge where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Zoology in 1990 [10] [1] for research on molecular evolution in primates supervised by Adrian Friday. [1]
Holmes has used genomic and phylogenetic approaches to reveal the major mechanisms of virus evolution and determined the genetic and epidemiological processes that explain how viruses jump species boundaries and spread in new hosts. [6] His work has revealed the origin, evolution and molecular epidemiology of important human pathogens including Hepatitis C, [11] [12] influenza, [13] [14] HIV [15] and dengue, [16] and enabled more accurate assessments of what types of virus are most likely to emerge in human populations and whether they will evolve human-to-human transmission. [6] His recent research has provided fundamental insights into the breadth and biodiversity of the viral world. [6]
Holmes wrote The Evolution and Emergence of RNA Viruses [17] part of the Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution edited by Paul H. Harvey and Robert M. May. He also co-authored the textbook Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach with Rod Page. [2] Since 1994 he has supervised 31 graduate students. [1]
Holmes co-authored the publication of the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 [18] [19] and the early descriptions of the disease, working with Zhang Yongzhen from Fudan University to share the first sequencing data from the virus. [20] Holmes has figured prominently in commentary surrounding its origins. In March 2020, he co-authored a letter titled The proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2, published in Nature Medicine , [21] which examined the mutations in the receptor-binding domain and furin cleavage site, and concluded that the virus sequence did not appear to be engineered. [22] [23] He co-authored a more-detailed review article in Cell. [24]
The University of Sydney published a statement by Holmes in April that stated, "There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans, originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China", and that all evidence points towards its origin in an animal species. [25] These views were reported in the Financial Times in May 2020. [26]
Before moving to Sydney in 2012, Holmes held academic appointments at various universities in the UK and USA including:
1990–1991 | University of California, Davis, [1] postdoctoral researcher supervised by Charles H. Langley. | |
1991–1993 | University of Edinburgh, [1] postdoc funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC). [1] [11] | |
1993–2004 | University of Oxford [1] where he was a Fellow of New College, Oxford and St Catherine's College, Oxford | |
2005–2012 | Pennsylvania State University, Full Professor of Biology [1] |
His research has been funded by the Royal Society, [6] the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Rhodes Trust, Wellcome Trust, United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Australian Research Council, and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). [1] [3] [27]
Holmes was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in 2015 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017. [6] In 2017 he was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship. [4] He was awarded the Scientific Medal, Zoological Society of London in 2003. [1] In October 2020 Holmes was named NSW Scientist of the Year. [28] In January 2021 he was jointly awarded the General Symbiont prize as an exemplar in the practice of data sharing at the Research Symbiont Awards alongside Zhang Yongzhen for sharing the first SARSCov2 genome. [29] In November 2021 he was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Science. [30] He was the recipient of the 2024 Croonian Medal and Lecture, awarded by the Royal Society. [31]
Holmes lists his recreations as Whale Beach, New South Wales, electric guitars, and Aston Villa Football Club. [32]
Betacoronavirus pandemicum is a species of virus consisting of many known strains. Two strains of the virus have caused outbreaks of severe respiratory diseases in humans: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1, the cause of the 2002–2004 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of the pandemic of COVID-19. There are hundreds of other strains of SARSr-CoV, which are only known to infect non-human mammal species: bats are a major reservoir of many strains of SARSr-CoV; several strains have been identified in Himalayan palm civets, which were likely ancestors of SARS-CoV-1.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1), previously known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is a strain of coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the respiratory illness responsible for the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. It is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that infects the epithelial cells within the lungs. The virus enters the host cell by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. It infects humans, bats, and palm civets. The SARS-CoV-1 outbreak was largely brought under control by simple public health measures. Testing people with symptoms, isolating and quarantining suspected cases, and restricting travel all had an effect. SARS-CoV-1 was most transmissible when patients were sick, so its spread could be effectively suppressed by isolating patients with symptoms.
Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1, also sometimes called SARS-like coronavirus WIV1, is a strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV) isolated from Chinese rufous horseshoe bats in 2013. Like all coronaviruses, virions consist of single-stranded positive-sense RNA enclosed within an envelope.
Shi Zhengli is a Chinese virologist who researches SARS-like coronaviruses of bat origin. Shi directs the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). In 2017, Shi and her colleague Cui Jie discovered that the SARS coronavirus likely originated in a population of cave-dwelling horseshoe bats in Xiyang Yi Ethnic Township, Yunnan. She came to prominence in the popular press as "Batwoman" during the COVID-19 pandemic for her work with bat coronaviruses. Shi was included in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the provisional name 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and has also been called human coronavirus 2019. First identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern from January 30, 2020, to May 5, 2023. SARS‑CoV‑2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that is contagious in humans.
Coronavirus diseases are caused by viruses in the coronavirus subfamily, a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, the group of viruses cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the common cold, while more lethal varieties can cause SARS, MERS and COVID-19. As of 2021, 45 species are registered as coronaviruses, whilst 11 diseases have been identified, as listed below.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences is a research institute on virology administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which reports to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The institute is one of nine independent organisations in the Wuhan Branch of the CAS. Located in Jiangxia District, Wuhan, Hubei, it was founded in 1956 and opened mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory in 2018. The institute has collaborated with the Galveston National Laboratory in the United States, the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie in France, and the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The institute has been an active premier research center for the study of coronaviruses.
SHC014-CoV is a SARS-like coronavirus (SL-COV) which infects horseshoe bats. It was discovered in Kunming in Yunnan Province, China. It was discovered along with SL-CoV Rs3367, which was the first bat SARS-like coronavirus shown to directly infect a human cell line. The line of Rs3367 that infected human cells was named Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1.
Andrew Rambaut is a British evolutionary biologist, as of 2020 professor of molecular evolution at the University of Edinburgh.
Bat coronavirus RaTG13 is a SARS-like betacoronavirus identified in the droppings of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus affinis. It was discovered in 2013 in bat droppings from a mining cave near the town of Tongguan in Mojiang county in Yunnan, China. In February 2020, it was identified as the closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, sharing 96.1% nucleotide identity. However, in 2022, scientists found three closer matches in bats found 530 km south, in Feuang, Laos, designated as BANAL-52, BANAL-103 and BANAL-236.
Zhang Yongzhen, also known as Yong-Zhen Zhang, is a Chinese virologist known for his work relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. A professor at Fudan University, Zhang has discovered numerous RNA viruses and created a network of labs dedicated to monitoring new viruses. He led the team that sequenced and published the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in early January 2020.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been efforts by scientists, governments, and others to determine the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Similar to other outbreaks, the virus was derived from a bat-borne virus and most likely was transmitted to humans via another animal in nature, or during wildlife trade such as that in food markets. While other explanations, such as speculations that SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a laboratory have been proposed, such explanations are not supported by evidence. Conspiracy theories about the virus's origin have also proliferated.
RmYN02 is a bat-derived strain of Severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus. It was discovered in bat droppings collected between May and October 2019 from sites in Mengla County, Yunnan Province, China. It is the second-closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain that causes COVID-19, sharing 93.3% nucleotide identity at the scale of the complete virus genome. RmYN02 contains an insertion at the S1/S2 cleavage site in the spike protein, similar to SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that such insertion events can occur naturally.
The COVID-19 lab leak theory, or lab leak hypothesis, is the idea that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, came from a laboratory. This claim is highly controversial; most scientists believe the virus spilled into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Available evidence suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was originally harbored by bats, and spread to humans from infected wild animals, functioning as an intermediate host, at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019. Several candidate animal species have been identified as potential intermediate hosts. There is no evidence SARS-CoV-2 existed in any laboratory prior to the pandemic, or that any suspicious biosecurity incidents happened in any laboratory.
Civet SARS-CoV is a coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which infected humans and caused SARS events from 2002 to 2003. It infected the masked palm civet. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is highly similar, with a genome sequence similarity of about 99.8%. Because several patients infected at the early stage of the epidemic had contact with fruit-eating Japanese raccoon dog in the market, tanuki may be a direct source of human SARS coronavirus. At the end of 2003, four more people in Guangzhou, China, were infected with the disease. Sequence analysis found that the similarity with the tanuki virus reached 99.9%, and the SARS coronavirus was also caused by cases of tanuki transmission.
Bat coronavirus RpYN06 is a SARS-like betacoronavirus that infects the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus pusillus. It is a close relative of SARS-CoV-2 with a 94.48% sequence identity.
Spike (S) glycoprotein is the largest of the four major structural proteins found in coronaviruses. The spike protein assembles into trimers that form large structures, called spikes or peplomers, that project from the surface of the virion. The distinctive appearance of these spikes when visualized using negative stain transmission electron microscopy, "recalling the solar corona", gives the virus family its main name.
LYRa11 is a SARS-like coronavirus (SL-COV) which was identified in 2011 in samples of intermediate horseshoe bats in Baoshan, Yunnan, China. The genome of this virus strain is 29805nt long, and the similarity to the whole genome sequence of SARS-CoV that caused the SARS outbreak is 91%. It was published in 2014. Like SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, LYRa11 virus uses ACE2 as a receptor for infecting cells.
ZC45 and ZXC21, sometimes known as the Zhoushan virus, are two bat-derived strains of severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus. They were collected from least horseshoe bats by personnel from military laboratories in the Third Military Medical University and the Research Institute for Medicine of Nanjing Command between July 2015 and February 2017 from sites in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China, and published in 2018. These two virus strains belong to the clade of SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain that causes COVID-19, sharing 88% nucleotide identity at the scale of the complete virus genome.
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