Polly Roy

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

is a professor and Chair of Virology at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She attended a number of schools which included

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Medical School,

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, and

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. In 2001 she became a part of The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and, along with being the chair of Virology, is also the co-organiser of the medical microbiology course. The virus that she has dedicated most of her career to is

Bluetongue disease Bluetongue (BT) disease is a noncontagious, arthropod-borne viral disease affecting ruminants, primarily sheep and other domestic or wild ruminants, including cattle, yaks, goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries, and antelope. It is caused by ...

that affects sheep and cattle. She became interested in this virus after attending a symposium and was intrigued by the fact that not much was known about the virus that was causing such a nasty and sometimes fatal disease.

Education

Roy went to Presidency College in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, India, where she was born. Thereafter, she received a scholarship to study at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

where she received her PhD in Molecular Virology. Whilst studying biological sciences she met biologist

Sol Spiegelman Sol Spiegelman (December 14, 1914 – January 21, 1983) was an American molecular biologist. He developed the technique of nucleic acid hybridization, which helped to lay the groundwork for advances in recombinant DNA technology. Early life an ...

. Roy then spent three years in a post-doctoral position in RNA Virology at Waksman Institute of Microbiology at

. After her post-doctoral work, she went to the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

to begin her own RNA research group. She became a professor at

in 1987. Roy then received the Fogarty Fellowship at the

in 1997 where she established a second virology lab. In 2001 Roy moved to The Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

as a Virology professor where she leads a research groups.

Research

Throughout her career, Roy has improved understanding on basic molecular, and structural biology, replication and the transmission of a variety viruses. Her research has led to advances in the development of improved diagnostic assays, more efficacious virus-like protein (VLP) vaccines, vaccines for Bluetongue and African Horse sickness virus (AHSV) and the possibility of other therapeutics relating to these diseases. Roy's research has been published in multiple highly acclaimed journals alongside contributing to several published books as a guest writer/editor. Roy's current research includes gaining a clearer understanding around the blue tongue virus at a molecular level, the potential for developing vaccines for Bluetongue virus and the African Horse sickness virus, RNA-RNA interactions and packaging, cell entry and transcription activation of non-enveloped dsRNA viruses and defining the ''cis'' and ''trans'' acting factors in the assembly of the Bluetongue virus.

Research interests

*RNA Virology *Viral Genetics *Protein Function & Capsid Assembly *Replication of Segmented Genome & Packaging *Virus Trafficking in Host Cell *Technology Development & Generation of Particulate Vaccines

Contributions to our understanding of Bluetongue Virus

*Viral Structure *Viral Assembly *RNA Replication *Virus Release *Supervised Post-doctoral & Post-graduate Researchers *Published close to 300 Research Papers *Served on Many Different Scientific Organizations, Committees, & Boards *Organized International Conferences *In 2006 Dr. Polly Roy was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for Conference on Viral Assembly *Delivered a talk at Women in Health 2018 Lecture series - How a virus works: a journey

Honours and awards

* Granted One Health, One World Award for contributions to science popularisation (2022) * Recipient, Jean Cohen Lecturer (2022) *

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2014 Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens ...

, for services to Virus Research * Elected Fellow of the Society of Biology (2014) * Senior Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust (2012) * 'Innovator of the Year' Finalist, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (2012) *The Indian Science Congress General President's Gold Medal (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Polly Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian virologists Indian women microbiologists New York University alumni Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine University of Alabama at Birmingham faculty Academics of the University of Oxford Scientists from Kolkata Bengali chemists 20th-century Indian biologists 20th-century Indian women scientists 21st-century Indian biologists Women scientists from West Bengal 21st-century Indian women scientists