Editors-in-Chief
Michael Malim
Biography
Michael Malim is currently Head of the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences and Professor of Infectious Diseases, King’s College London, as well as Director of the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership in Biomedical Sciences and Theme Lead for Infection and Immunity in the Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust & King’s College London. Since 2018, he has been Vice President (Non-Clinical) at the Academy of Medical Sciences.
He was previously a faculty member in the Departments of Microbiology and Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Malim’s laboratory works on the molecular pathogenesis of virus infections of importance to global health, particularly HIV-1 and influenza A virus, and embraces a broad range of molecular genetic, cultured cell, biochemical, structural, bioinformatic and cohort-based methods to explore the fundamental principles of virus replication and host-mediated control. One long-running topic of interest has been the HIV-1 non-structural protein, Vif. This led to the identification of the human protein APOBEC3G as an anti-viral effector specifically antagonised by Vif, and revealed a novel form of innate immunity involving the destructive editing of viral DNA.
Before becoming joint Editor-in-Chief for PLOS Pathogens in 2019, Malim served as a Section Editor after joining the Editorial Board in 2004. He also serves as an Editor for Virology.
Education
- B.Sc., Biochemistry, University of Bristol
- D. Phil, Biochemistry, University of Oxford
Awards and Honors
- Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Scientist Award
- KT Jeang Retrovirology Prize
- Elected, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
- Elected, Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation
- Elected, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
- Elected, Fellow of the Royal Society
Selected Publications
- Jimenez-Guardeño, J.M., Apolonia, L., Betancor, G. and Malim, M.H. (2019). Immunoproteasome activation enables human TRIM5a restriction of HIV-1. Nature Microbiology 4, 933-940
- Dicks, M.D.J., Betancor, G., Jimenez-Guardeño, J.M., Pessel-Vivares, L., Apolonia, L., Goujon, C., and Malim, M.H. (2018). Multiple components of the nuclear pore complex interact with the amino-terminus of MX2 to facilitate HIV-1 restriction. PLoS Pathogens 14, e1007408
- Doyle, T., Moncorgé, O., Bonaventure, B., Pollpeter, D., Lussignol, M., Tauziet, M., Apolonia, L., Catanese, M.-T. Goujon, C. and Malim, M.H. (2018). The interferon-inducible isoform of NCOA7 inhibits endosome-mediated viral entry. Nature Microbiology 3, 1369-1376
- Goujon, C., Moncorgé, O., Bauby, H., Doyle, T., Ward, C.C., Schaller, T., Hué, S., Barclay, W.S., Schulz, R. and Malim, M.H. (2013). Human MX2 is an interferon-induced post-entry inhibitor of HIV-1 infection. Nature 502, 559-562
- Sherer, N.M., Swanson, C.M., Hué, S., Roberts, R.G., Bergeron, J.R.C. and Malim, M.H. (2011). Evolution of a species-specific determinant within human CRM1 that regulates the post-transcriptional phases of HIV-1 replication. PLoS Pathogens 7, e1002395.
- Harris, R.S., Bishop, K.N., Sheehy, A.M., Craig, H.M., Petersen-Mahrt, S.K., Watt, I.N., Neuberger, M.S. and Malim, M.H. (2003). DNA deamination mediates innate immunity to retroviral infection. Cell 113, 803-809
- Sheehy, A.M., Gaddis, N.C., Choi, J.D. and Malim, M.H. (2002). Isolation of a human gene that inhibits HIV-1 infection and is suppressed by the viral Vif protein. Nature 418, 646-650
Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh
Biography
Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh is a physician-scientist, Professor of Pediatrics, and former Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Florida. Dr. Bhaduri-McIntosh is also the Director of Pediatric Infectious Disease Research and a graduate faculty member in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and the Department of Physics. She completed her medical training at B.J. Medical College in Pune, India, and earned a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from Hahnemann University (now Drexel University), where she studied mitochondrial function in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. After completing a pediatric residency, Dr. Bhaduri-McIntosh undertook a clinical fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Yale University, where she also trained as a virologist and human immunologist under the mentorship of Professor I. George Miller.
She began her independent research program as an Assistant Professor at Yale and later became a tenured Associate Professor at Stony Brook University in New York. Currently, she is a tenured Professor and Children’s Miracle Network Scholar in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Florida.
Dr. Bhaduri-McIntosh’s research bridges virology, oncology, immunology, and infectious diseases, focusing on the interactions between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and its host, the B cell. Her laboratory investigates three main areas: 1) mechanisms that regulate EBV susceptibility to lytic activation, which is important for viral persistence and oncolytic therapy development, 2) factors controlling the transition from viral gene transcription to replication in the lytic phase, and 3) how EBV evades anti-pathogen and anti-cancer defenses to promote B cell proliferation and transformation. Her research aims to develop targeted therapeutic approaches that exploit the complex interplay between viral reactivation, immune evasion, and B cell transformation in EBV-driven cancers.