George Lomonossoff

Professor
Biological Chemistry
John Innes Center
United Kingdom

Professor Biochemistry
Biography

The group has exploited a highly efficient transient expression system developed in our laboratory (the CPMV-HT system) to produce a range of pharmacologically active proteins, including antibodies and virus-like particles, in plants. In the case of Bluetongue virus (BTV), plant-produced particles have been shown to be able to protect sheep against bluetongue disease. Work in this area has resulted in the filing of several patents. The group has also been involved in projects that have demonstrated the utility of the CPMV-HT transient expression system for the analysis, manipulation and re-engineering of plant secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways. Research on protein expression in plants, including secondary metabolite biosynthesis, resulted in Frank Sainsbury (a Ph.D student at the John Innes Centre) and I being named BBSRC Overall Innovators of the Year in 2012

Research Intrest

Research in our lab is primarily focussed on the exploitation of plant viruses in bio- and nanotechnology technology.

List of Publications
Berardi A, Lomonossoff GP, Evans DJ2 Barker SA (2017) Plant-expressed Hepatitis B core antigen virus-like particles: Characterization and investigation of their stability in simulated and pig gastro-intestinal fluids. Int J Pharm 522: 147-156.
Brillault L, Jutras PV, Dashti N, Thuenemann EC1, Morgan G, et al. (2017) Engineering Recombinant Virus-like Nanoparticles from Plants for Cellular Delivery. ACS Nano 11: 3476-3484.
Mardanova ES, Blokhina EA, Tsybalova LM, Peyret H, Lomonossoff GP (2017) Efficient Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins in Plants by the Novel pEff Vector Based on the Genome of Potato Virus X. Front Plant Sci 8: 247.

Global Scientific Words in Biochemistry