Prof. M. (Massimo) Palmarini

Prof Massimo Palmarini is the director of the Department of Viroscience at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands. A veterinarian by training, his research programmes have spanned diverse areas including virus pathogenesis, the host innate immunity to virus infections and the mechanisms of viruses cross-species transmission, focusing lately on avian influenza viruses.

Before joining Erasmus MC, Prof Palmarini was the Director of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. His work has been published in major research journals including Nature, Science, PNAS and others. Palmarini’s research programme is funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Massimo Palmarini has been elected Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and he was a Wolfson-Royal Society Research Merit Awardee. He received in 2021 an OBE for services to the UK Public Health.

Virology

1992: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), University of Perugia, Italy.

February 1997: PhD in Virology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

1997- 2000: Post-doctoral fellow, Cancer Research Institute, University of California Irvine (USA).

2001-2004: Assistant Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia (USA).

2004 – 2010: Institute of Comparative Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis.

2007 – 2008: Institute of Comparative Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Head, Division of Pathological Sciences.

2009 – 2010: Institute of Comparative Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Associate Dean for Research.

2010 – 2024: Director of the MRC - University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, United Kingdom.

Wilhelm Furnon, Vanessa M Cowton, Giuditta De Lorenzo, Richard Orton, Vanessa Herder, Diego Cantoni, Georgios Ilia, Diogo Correa Mendonca, Karen Kerr, Jay Allan, Nicole Upfold, Gavin R Meehan, Siddharth Bakshi, Udeet Ranjan Das, Sergi Molina Arias, Marion McElwee, Sarah Little, Nicola Logan, Kirsty Kwok, Katherine Smollett, Brian Willett, Ana Da Silva Filipe, David L Robertson, Joe Grove, Arvind H Patel and Massimo Palmarini.
Phenotypic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 spike throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
Nature Microbiology, doi: 10.1038/s41564-024-01878-5.(2025)

João Da Silva Filho, Vanessa Herder, Matthew P. Gibbins, Monique Freire Santana, Gisely Cardoso Melo, Michel J. Haley, Carla Cristina Judice, Fernando Fonseca Almeida Val, Mayla Borba, Tatyana Almeida Tavella, Vanderson de Sousa Sampaio, Charalampos Attipa, Fiona McMonagle, Marcus Vinicius Guimaraes de Lacerda, Fabio Trindade Maranhão Costa, Kevin N. Couper, Wuelton Marcelo Monteiro, Luiz Carlos de Lima Ferreira, Christopher Moxon, Massimo Palmarini and Matthias Marti.
Disease trajectories in hospitalized COVID-19 patients are predicted by clinical and peripheral blood signatures representing distinct lung pathologies
Science Translational Medicine, 16, eadk9149 (10.1126/scitranslmed.adk9149) (2024)

Pinto, R. M., S. Bakshi, S. Lytras, M. K. Zakaria, S. Swingler, J. C. Worrell, V. Herder, M. Varjak, N. Cameron-Ruiz, M. Collados-Rodriguez, M. Varela, A. Wickenhagen, C. Loney, Y. Pei, J. Hughes, E. Valette, M. L. Turnbull, W. Furnon, K. E. Hargrave, Q. Gu, L. Orr, A. Taggart, C. Boutell, F. Grey, E. Hutchinson, P. Digard, I. Monne, S. K. Wootton, M. K. L. MacLeod, S. J. Wilson, and M. Palmarini.
Zoonotic avian influenza viruses evade human BTN3A3 restriction. Nature, Jul;619(7969):338-347. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06261-8. Epub 2023 Jun 28 (2023)

Antonia Ho, Richard Orton, Rachel Tayler, Patawee Asamaphan, Vanessa Herder, Chris Davis, Lily Tong, Katherine Smollett, Maria Manali, Jay Allan, Konrad Rawlik, Sarah E. McDonald , Elen Vink, Louisa Pollock, Louise Gannon, Clair Evans, Jim McMenamin, Kirsty Roy, Kimberly Marsh, Titus Divala, Matthew TG Holden, Michael Lockhart, David Yirrell, Sandra Currie, Maureen O’Leary, David Henderson, Samantha J. Shepherd, Celia Jackson, Rory Gunson, Alasdair MacLean, Neil McInnes, Amanda Bradley-Stewart, Richard Battle, Jill Hollenbach, Paul Henderson, Miranda Odam, Primrose Chikowore, Wilna Oosthuyzen, Meera Chand, Melissa Shea Hamilton, Diego Estrada-Rivadeneyra, Michael Levin, Nikos Avramidis, Erola Pairo-Castineira, Veronique Vitart, Pablo Murcia, Craig Wilkie, Surajit Ray, DIAMONDS consortium, ISARIC4C Investigators, Massimo Palmarini, David L. Robertson, Ana Filipe, Brian J. Willett, Judith Breuer, Malcolm G. Semple, David Turner, J Kenneth Baillie, Emma C. Thomson.
HLA class II and the adeno-associated virus 2 are linked to paediatric hepatitis
Nature May;617(7961):555-563. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05948-2. Epub 2023 Mar 30.PMID: 36996873.(2023)

A. Shaw, J. Hughes, Q. Gu, A. Behdenna, J. Singer, T. Dennis, R.J. Orton, M. Varela, R.J. Gifford, S.J. Wilson and M. Palmarini.
Fundamental properties of the mammalian innate immune system revealed by multi-species comparison of type I interferon responses
PLoS Biology, 15(12): e2004086. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2004086 (2017)

E. Melzi, M. Caporale, M. Rocchi, V. Martín, V. Gamino, A. di Provvido, G. Marruchella, G. Entrican, N. Sevilla, M. Palmarini. 
Follicular dendritic cells disruption as a novel mechanism of viral induced immunosuppression
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Oct 11; 113(41):E6238-E6247. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1610012113 (2016)

B. Chessa, F. Pereira, F. Arnaud, A. Amorim, F. Goyache, I. Mainland, R.R. Kao, J. M. Pemberton, D. Beraldi, M. Stear, A. Alberti, M. Pittau, M.H. Banabazi, R. Kazwala, Y.-P. Zhang, J.J. Arranz, B.A. Ali, Z. Wang, M. Uzun, M. Dione, I. Olsaker, L.-E. Holm, U. Saarma, S. Ahmad, N. Marzanov, E. Eythorsdottir, M. Holland, P. Ajmone-Marsan, M.W. Bruford, J. Kantanen, T.E. Spencer, and Palmarini M.
Revealing the history of sheep domestication using retroviral integrations 
Science 324: 532-536. (2009) 

Professor of Virology, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.

Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, Lyon, France (2018- Present), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board.

UK Health Security Agency (2023- present), Member of the Zoonotic Influenza Technical Group.

Awards/Honors

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) (2021) for services to Public Health.
• The Academy of Medical Sciences (2015). Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
• The Royal Society of Edinburgh: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2008).
• The Royal Society of Biology: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2010).
• Royal Society (London, UK): Wolfson-Royal Society Research Merit Award (2004-2009).
• Italian Society of Veterinary Sciences (2016). Elected Honorary Member.
• Charnock Bradley Distinguished Lecture (2012). University of Edinburgh.
• Journal of Comparative Pathology Plenary Lectureship (2011). Journal of Comparative Pathology Educational Trust.
• John M. Bowen Award for Excellence in Animal Research (2003) – University of Georgia.
• Pfizer Award for Research Excellence (2002) - College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia.
• Distinguished Cancer Research Scientist - Georgia Cancer Coalition - (2001-2006): Distinguished Cancer Scientist.
• American Cancer Society (California Division): Senior Post-Doctoral Fellowship 1999. Two years fellowship. Work conducted at the Cancer Research Institute of the University of California, Irvine.
• The Wellcome Trust (London, UK): International Prize Travelling Research Fellowship 1997.
• Moredun Research Institute: Scholarship.
• Commission of the European Communities: Human Capital and Mobility individual fellowships - Marie Curie Fellowships

Committees

• UK Health Security Agency (2023- present), Member of the Zoonotic Influenza Technical Group.
• The Wellcome Trust (2021-2024), Member of the Career Development Award Interview Committee.
• MRC (2023), Member of the Subcommittee for Quinquennial Review of the MRC Prion Unit 2022/23.
• The Wellcome Trust (2019-2020), Member of the Sir Henry Dale Fellowships Interview Committee.
• UK-RI – NIHR (2020), Member of the COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call: Guidance for Rapid Response Panel Members.
• Scottish Government (2021- 2025), Member of the Standing Committee on Pandemics.
• Academy of Medical Sciences (2020), Member of the Pre-clinical Drug Development Advisory Group.
• UK-RI/NIHR (2020), Member of the Expert Panel of the Rapid Response Call 2, Diagnosing and Understanding COVID-19.
• DHSC-UK-RI (2020), Member of the Expert Panel of the COVID-19 Rapid Response Call 1.
• LifeArc (2020), Member of the Covid-19 Fund Panel.
• Research Excellence Framework 2021, Member of Sub-Panel 6 (Criteria Settings Phase and Assessment Phase): Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science.
• Medical Research Council (2016-2020), Member of the Infection and Immunity Board.
• The Royal Society (2018-2019), Member of the Resilient Futures Challenge-Led Grant Panel.
• Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, Lyon, France (2018- Present), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board.
• European Society for Virology (2018- present), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board.
• Academy of Medical Sciences (2019), Mentor of the SUSTAIN III Programme for Early Career Women Scientists.
• European Virus Bioinformatic Centre (2017- ), Member of the Board of Directors.
• MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit (2018-2023 ), Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.
• The University of Cambridge (2018), Member of the Review Panel for the “Strategic Research Review of Veterinary Medicine”.
• Medical Research Council (2017), Member of the International Experts Subcommittee reviewing the Centre for Global Infectious Diseases Analysis.
• Medical Research Council (2016), Member of the “Zika” Panel.
• Medical Research Council (2016), Member of the Global Infectious Diseases Foundation Call Expert Panel.
• UK Research Excellence Framework 2014, Member of Sub-Panel 6: Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science.
• The Wellcome Trust, Member of the Pathogen Biology and Disease Transmission Expert Review Group (ERG5) (2012-2015)
• The Wellcome Trust, Ad hoc Member of the Science Funding Interview Panel (2014)
• BBSRC, Member of the Animal Disease Working Group (2012-present)
• The Wellcome Trust, Ad hoc member of the Pathogen Biology and Disease Transmission Expert Review Group (ERG5) (2011-2012)
• World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE; Paris, France). Chair of the Ad Hoc Expert group on “High throughput sequencing, bioinformatics and computational genomics” (2012-2015)
• AERES (France), Expert member of the Visiting Committee of UMR 8122 of the Institut Gustave Roussy (Paris, France; 2014)
• The Wellcome Trust, Member of the Steering Group of the Clinical Veterinary Research Training initiative (2010- 2011)
• MRC, Member of the Infection and Immunity Board Scientific Quinquennial Review of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) Infections Group (2010)
• The Wellcome Trust, UK, Immunology and Infectious Disease Funding Committee (2006-2009)
• Royal Society of Edinburgh, Clinical Sciences Sectional Committee (2009-2012)
• BBSRC, Member of the Pool of Expert (2010-2012) and ad hoc member of Animal Committee A
• European Medicines Agency (London, UK), Ad Hoc Animal Retroviruses Advisory Board (2008-2009)
• MRC Centre for Integrated Virology, Director Appointment Panel (2009)
• Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, UK, Research Committee (2005- 2007)
• DEFRA, UK, Member of the Veterinary Laboratory Agency Audit Team “Emerging Diseases and Welfare/ Statutory Exotic Viruses” (VLA) (2007)
• Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University (Japan), Chair of the Site Visit Review Panel (2009)
• American Lung Association, Georgia Division Funding Committee, USA (2003-2004)

Current Funding

• UKRI (2023-2027) “The Genotype to Phenotype Consortium 2” (PI: W. Barclay; Co-PI M. Palmarini, A. Patel; £1,321,989 portion to CVR)
• MRC (2023-2028) “Virus cross-species transmission: defining the immunology barriers to viral emergence (PI: M. Palmarini, P. Murcia, D. Streicker, S. Wilson, S. Rihn) (£1,634,760)
• The Wellcome Trust (2023-2027) “Global knowledge exchange to enable in country risk assessment of SARS-CoV-2 variants” (PI: W. Barclay; co-PI: M. Palmarini) (£558,471 portion to CVR)
• UKRI (2023-2028) “Evolutionarily smart vaccine strain selection for proactive vaccinology” (Co-PI Palmarini, Patel) (PI: D. Smith) £373,377, portion to the CVR)
• MRC (2024-2025) “Enhancing the CVR’s Virus Genomics and Bioinformatics Platform Through the Implementation of the Illumina NextSeq 2000 system” (£427,739, Da Silva, Mair, Thomson, Palmarini, Murcia).