Biography
Virologist Dr Rihn received her undergraduate degree from Smith College (Massachusetts, USA) and subsequently completed her PhD and graduate fellowship at Rockefeller University (New York, USA). In 2016, after moving to the MRC University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Suzannah was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship.
In 2022, Dr Rihn was successful in applying for €1.6 million from the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant scheme (funded by UKRI Horizon Guarantee) to improve our understanding of how new coronaviruses might be able to transmit between rodents and humans in the future. As an ERC Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), her work primarily investigates fitness and interferon-related determinants of virus transmission.
Research
Viruses display perhaps the greatest biodiversity on Earth. What enables such successful colonisation? The Rihn group’s research investigates the diverse host and viral factors involved in virus spread. By investigating virus fitness and host defenses from diverse perspectives, we explore the molecular determinants involved in the emergence, transmission and adaptation of pandemic viruses.
As there have been 3 coronavirus epidemics or pandemics in the last two decades alone, our group currently has a particular focus on identifying the molecular features that enable coronavirus zoonosis or cross-species transmission. Ultimately, we hope that the information we uncover will inform epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
Publications
Rihn SJ*, Merits A*, Bakshi S*, Turnbull M*, Wickenhagen A*, Alexander AJT, et al. (2021) A Plasmid DNA-Launched SARS-CoV-2 Reverse Genetics System and Coronavirus Toolkit for COVID-19 Research. PLOS Biology, 19(2), e3001091.
Shaw AE*, Rihn SJ*, Mollentze N*, Wickenhagen A, Stewart DG, et al. (2021) The ‘antiviral state’ has shaped the CpG composition of the vertebrate interferome to avoid self-targeting. PLOS Biology, 19 (9), e3001352.
Sugrue E, Wickenhagen A, Mollentze N, Aziz MA, Vattipally BS, Truxa S, Tong L, da Silva Filipe A, Robertson DL, Hughes J, Rihn SJ*, Wilson SJ*. (2022) The Interferon Resistance of Transmitted HIV-1 is a Consequence of Enhanced Replicative Fitness. PLOS Pathogens, 18(11): e1010973.
Rihn SJ*, Aziz MA*, Stewart DG*, Hughes J, et al. (2019) TRIM69 inhibits vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus. Journal of Virology, 93(20), e00951-19.
Kane M*, Zang TM*, Rihn SJ*, Zhang F, et al. (2016) Identification of interferon-stimulated genes with antiretroviral activity. Cell Host and Microbe, 20(3), pp. 392-405.
Rihn SJ, Wilson SJ, Loman NJ, Alim M, et al. (2013) Extreme genetic fragility of the HIV-1 capsid. PLoS Pathogens, 9(6), e1003461.
Find more at Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nRes60QAAAAJ&hl=en
Teaching and Supervisions
Current PhD student: Grace West
Other Professional Activities
Fellowships and Awards:
- ERC Starting Grant (funded by UKRI Horizon Guarantee), 2022
- Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2016
- Uta von Schwedler Prize (Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA), 2014
- Founded the Department of Medicine’s Knowledge, Inclusion and Equity in Research book club which seeks to discuss inequalities in science, medicine and research, with a goal of promoting knowledge, inclusion and equity.
