Profile

Career

2009 -	Professor	Departments of Mathematics and Biology, University of York
2005 - 2009	Reader	Departments of Mathematics and Biology, University of York
2004 - 2009	EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow
2001 - 2005	Lecturer	Department of Mathematics, City University, London
2000 - 2001	Post-doc	TU Clausthal (Marie Curie Fellow)
1997 - 2000	Post-doc	TU Clausthal (Dorothea Erxleben Fellow)
1997	PhD	TU Clausthal (Germany)
1993	MSc	University of Bath

Research

Overview

My research focuses on the structure and assembly of viruses. Viruses have a protein shell that encapsulates and hence provides protection for the viral genome. We study the symmetries of viruses and their implications on virus architecture, including the tertiary structures of the capsid proteins and the organisation of the nucleic acid within the capsids. Moreover, we determine the putative pathways of virus assembly and study virus assembly via an energy landscape approach.

Discoveries

We discovered that the three-dimensional structure of simple viruses including the tertiary structure of their capsid proteins and the organisation of their genomic material are constrained collectively by a new symmetry principle. We showed that these results can be used to include the role of RNA into virus assembly models.

Current projects

• Mathematical Virology: A Novel Approach to the Structure and Assembly of Viruses. This grants provides funding for a portfolio of research projects (see the project titles given for individual lab members) (Funding body: Leverhulme Trust)

Research group(s)

Status	Name	Project
Post-doc	Dr Thomas Keef	A new symmetry principle applied to the structure of simple viruses – implications on virus assembly and virus evolution
Post-doc	Dr Karim Elsawy	An energy landscape approach to virus assembly
Post-doc	Dr Eric Dykeman	Dynamic properties of viruses
Research Student	Paul Wardman	A computer tool for the computation of the geometric constraints on viral capsid proteins arising from the 3-d symmetry principle
Research Student	Simone Racca	Martinsitic transitions in viral capsid geometries
Research Student	David Salthouse	Modelling geometric constraints on viral evolution via symmetry techniques
Research Student	Nick Grayson	Virus assembly via a Hamiltonian path approach

Publications

Selected publications

Keef T, Twarock R and Elsawy KM (2008) Blueprints for viral capsids in the family of Papovaviridae J. Theor. Biol. 253: 808-816

Toropova K, Basnak G, Twarock R, Stockley PG and Ranson NA (2008) The three-dimensional structure of genomic RNA in bacteriophage MS2: Implications for assembly J. Mol. Biol. 375: 824-836

Keef, T. and Twarock, R., (2009) Affine extensions of the icosahedral group with applications to the three-dimensional organisation of simple viruses. J. Math. Biol. 59: 287-313.

External activities

Memberships

• EPSRC College member; member of the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Teams in Healthcare and Mathematics

Editorial duties

• Editor of a book on “Emerging Topics in Physical Virology” (jointly with Prof. Peter Stockley from Leeds) that is due to appear with Imperial College Press shortly

Invited talks and conferences

• Organisation of an IOP funded workshop on “Applications of Group Theory in Virology” together with Prof. Anne Taormina (Durham) in Durham in December 2008.