Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Statement
Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants worldwide and also causes considerable morbidity and mortality in the elderly and immunecompromised individuals. Re-infections are common throughout life. Despite more than 50 years of research there are no vaccines or specific therapeutics against RSV. Importantly, the mechanisms by which RSV causes disease in humans remain poorly understood.
The Power group has developed models of RSV infection based on well-differentiated primary paediatric airway epithelial cell cultures (WD-PAEC), the primary targets of RSV infection in vivo. These cultures are derived from both bronchial and nasal brushes of airway epithelium in ethically approved protocols. Our RSV/WD-PAEC model derived from bronchial epithelium demonstrated remarkable similarities to hallmarks of RSV infection in infant lungs, both at the cellular and molecular levels. This research indicated that our model provides an authentic surrogate for RSV infection of lower airway epithelium in vivo. Similarly, our RSV/WD-PAEC model derived from nasal epithelium provided the means to comprehensively study RSV infection in authentic paediatric upper respiratory tract epithelium tissue. Our exploitation of these models has provided several novel insights into the consequences of RSV infection of paediatric airway epithelial cells that are the basis of ongoing research. In particular, using nasal-derived WD-PAECs from cohorts of infants with defined histories of severe and mild RSV disease, respectively, we have generated data identifying potential gene biomarkers of severe RSV disease in infants and are currently validating them.
We are confident that these models will provide insights into RSV pathogenesis in humans that ultimately lead to successful RSV vaccines and/or therapeutics. Be extension, we expect that they will also provide the basis for authentic pre-clinical models to test novel anti-RSV therapeutics.
Although our models are based on RSV infections, these cultures will be undoubtedly adaptable to studying the molecular pathogenesis of other important respiratory viruses, such as influenza virus and human parainfluenza viruses. Indeed, by way of comparison with RSV, we have extensively characterised the consequences of WD-PAEC infection with Sendai virus, a murine parainfluenza virus type 1 (mPIV1) that is considered non-pathogenic in humans. Sendai virus is of interest to us and others as a live attenuated viral vaccine vector for RSV antigens. As such, studying its interaction with WD-PAECs provided novel insights into the cytopathogenesis of Sendai virus in paediatric airway epithelial cells.
This research programme is the result of highly productive collaboration with Prof. Mike Shields and members of the Respiratory Research Cluster at QUB. It has attracted substantial peer-reviewed research funding from local and national funding agencies, as well as substantial research investment from international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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R1668CEM: Development of Novel RSV Pre-Fusion Protein Recombinant Bovine Vaccine
09/09/2016 → …
Project: Research
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R7818CII: Prophylactic and therapeutic potential of anti-RSV nanobodies
Power, U. & Shields, M.
01/08/2012 → 31/07/2016
Project: Research
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An endogenously activated antiviral state restricts SARS-CoV-2 infection in differentiated primary airway epithelial cells
Broadbent, L., Bamford, C. G. G., Lopez Campos, G., Manzoor, S., Courtney, D., Ali, A., Touzelet, O., McCaughey, C., Mills, K. & Power, U. F., 18 Apr 2022, In: PLoS ONE. 17, 4, e0266412.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile26 Downloads (Pure) -
Classification of respiratory syncytial virus and Sendai virus using portable near-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics
Song, W., Wang, H., Power, U., Rahman, E., Barabas, J., Huang, J., McLaughlin, J., Nugent, C. & Maguire, P., 06 Oct 2022, (Early online date) In: IEEE Sensors Journal.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile39 Downloads (Pure) -
Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in paediatric primary airway epithelial cell cultures compared with Vero-derived cell lines
Bamford, C., Broadbent, L., Aranday-Cortes, E., McCabe, M., McKenna, J., Courtney, D., Touzelet, O., Ali, A., Roberts, G. C., Lopez Campos, G., Simpson, D., McCaughey, C., Fairley, D., Mills, K., Investigators, B. T. & Power, U., 05 Feb 2022, (Early online date) In: Viruses.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile78 Downloads (Pure) -
Distinct airway epithelial immune responses after infection with SARS-CoV-2 compared to H1N1
Wellcome Trust Breathing Together Consortium & Power, U., 15 Jul 2022, (Early online date) In: Mucosal immunology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile12 Downloads (Pure) -
Early life inter-kingdom interactions shape the immunological environment of the airways
Pattaroni, C., Macowan, M., Chatzis, R., Custovic, A., Shields, M. D., Power, U. F., Grigg, J., Roberts, G., Ghazal, P., Schwarze, J., Gore, M., Turner, S., Bush, A., Saglani, S., Lloyd, C. M. & Marsland, B., 21 Feb 2022, In: Microbiome. 10, 34.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile32 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Dataset for: Comparative primary paediatric nasal epithelial cell culture differentiation and RSV-induced cytopathogenesis following culture in two commercial media
Broadbent, L. (Creator), Manzoor, S. (Data Collector), Zarcone, M. (Data Collector), Barabas, J. (Data Collector), Shields, M. (Supervisor), Saglani, S. (Supervisor), Lloyd, C. (Supervisor), Bush, A. (Supervisor), Custovic, A. (Supervisor), Ghazal, P. (Supervisor), Gore, M. (Data Manager), Marsland, B. (Supervisor), Roberts, G. (Supervisor), Schwarze, J. (Supervisor), Turner, S. (Supervisor) & Power, U. (Supervisor), Queen's University Belfast, 31 Jan 2019
DOI: 10.17034/7c15ce87-a011-47e7-ba55-50e0ccb550a9, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/800326v1
Dataset
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Characterisation of morphological differences in well-differentiated nasal epithelial cell cultures
Groves, H. (Creator), Guo Parke, H. (Creator), Broadbent, L. (Creator), Shields, M. (Creator) & Power, U. (Creator), Queen's University Belfast, 25 Oct 2018
DOI: 10.17034/d34301e3-20ae-4d26-a7d0-a2a5bf0b5371
Dataset
File
Prizes
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Athena SWAN Silver Award renewal to the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences 2016.
Power, Ultan (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Athena SWAN Silver Award to the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences 2013.
Power, Ultan (Recipient), 2013
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Best oral research presentation at the Society for General Microbiology, Irish Branch Meeting, University College, Galway, Ireland
Power, Ultan (Recipient), 1986
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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French goverenment subvention (16.6 M French francs) to facilitate development of the 1st RSV vaccine to enter Phase III clinical trials. My team played a pivotal role in this project.
Power, Ultan (Recipient), 1998
Prize: Other distinction
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Postgraduate Supervisory Excellence Award 2016
Power, Ultan (Recipient), 24 May 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Co-Design Workshop on Training the Next Generation of Postgraduate Researchers in Discovery AI for Health
Hui Wang (Organiser), Iain Styles (Speaker), Roger Woods (Speaker), Mauro Paternostro (Speaker), Paul Mullan (Speaker), Frank Kee (Speaker), Gary Hardiman (Speaker), Lorraine Martin (Participant), Ultan Power (Participant), Richard Gault (Participant), Stephanie Craig (Participant), Kris McCombe (Participant), Maeve Murphy (Participant), Xinjin Liang (Organiser) & Franziska Schroeder (Participant)
02 Jun 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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12th International Respiratory Syncytial Virus Symposium
Ultan Power (Conference committee chair)
29 Sep 2022 → 02 Oct 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Options for the Control of Influenza XI
Ultan Power (Member of the organising committee)
26 Sep 2022 → 29 Sep 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Microbiology Society Annual Conference
Ultan Power (Speaker)
04 Apr 2022 → 07 Apr 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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North Belfast Federation of Family Practices - current status of COVID-19 pandemic
Ultan Power (Keynote speaker)
09 Feb 2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Press/Media
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768 expert media commentaries during SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to March 2022.
08/03/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Polio survivor group talks of legacy and a new battle.
13/04/2017
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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