Benjamin Brennan

Dr. Benjamin Brennan is a Senior Lecturer in Virology at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), where he leads the Brennan Lab as Principal Investigator. He holds a Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellowship and serves as an Editor for the Journal of General Virology. His research focuses on understanding how bunyaviruses, particularly those in the Phenuiviridae family, are transmitted by vectors to mammals and how they overcome host immune defenses.

Dr. Brennan's research interests center on tick-borne viruses, especially Banyangvirus and Phlebovirus genera. His lab employs virological methods such as reverse genetics technologies and acarology to investigate how clinically relevant pathogens are transmitted by arthropods. Key research areas include examining virus-vector interactions, studying molecular biology of arboviruses in different systems, analyzing innate immune factors in arthropods that control virus replication, developing tools to study tick-borne virus replication in vivo, and investigating viral protein functions during infection of both mammalian and arthropod cells. His work aims to understand why these viruses can infect arthropods without causing disease and to develop attenuated viruses for potential live-attenuated vaccines or vector control agents.

Analysis of Dr. Brennan's 15 most recent publications (2019-2025) reveals a strong focus on tick-borne bunyaviruses, particularly SFTS virus, Rift Valley fever virus, and related pathogens. His research spans molecular virology, host-pathogen interactions, vector immunity, and vaccine development. A notable trend is the application of reverse genetics systems to study virus biology and develop vaccine candidates, along with increasing exploration of RNA interference pathways in vector immunity.

• 2017: Support Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership Fellow Funding)
• 2018: Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellowship

Dr. Brennan supervises multiple PhD students including Krittika Dummunee, Alexandra Wilson, and Andrew Clarke, and has previously mentored researchers such as Veronica Rezelj and Stephanie Cumberworth. His research is supported by significant grants including the Wellcome Trust-funded projects 'What makes viruses tick?' (2022-2024) and 'What makes phleboviruses tick?' (2018-2023), BBSRC funding for 'Vaccines and molecular tools for SFTSV control' (2018-2021), and current UKRI funding for 'TickTools: Development of tools to monitor and control tick-borne diseases' (2023-2026).

The Brennan Lab operates within the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, utilizing specialized containment facilities (CL2 and CL3) for working with tick-borne pathogens. The lab collaborates with multiple international research groups and is involved in public engagement projects including a citizen science initiative with The Conservation Volunteers Scotland to monitor ticks and tick-borne viruses across Scotland.