Venugopal Nair

Professor Venugopal Nair serves as Group Head and Principal Investigator at The Pirbright Institute, leading research on avian infectious diseases with critical focus on Marek's disease (MD) – a highly contagious neoplastic poultry pathogen causing global economic losses estimated at £1 billion annually.

His research program investigates two interconnected domains: molecular mechanisms of MD virus virulence evolution (particularly vaccine-driven selection pressures in collaboration with Prof. Andrew Read of the University of Edinburgh) and virus-induced oncogenesis pathways. His laboratory employs advanced multi-omics approaches including transcriptome, proteome, and interactome analysis of MDV-transformed cells to unravel neoplastic transformation mechanisms. Key methodological innovations involve infectious bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones for targeted mutagenesis of MDV strains and identification of herpesvirus-encoded microRNAs governing viral pathogenesis.

The group's translational focus aims to develop next-generation vaccines against evolving avian pathogens to ensure sustainable global poultry production systems.