Infectious Diseases of the Nervous System

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Kennedy

Academic positions: - Burton Chair of Neurology - Head of the Division of Clinical Neurosciences - Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital

Research interests: The main focus of Dr Kennedy's laboratory for the last 10 years has been on the mechanisms which determine Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) latency. His group has defined unambiguously the cellular location of latent VZV in human ganglia (neuronal cells) and has also carried out a major study of VZV gene expression during ganglionic latency. His group have also studied animal models of VZV latency with international colleagues. They are currently focussing our attention on viral factors that may determine the development of post-herpetic neuralgia and have been working with Prof J. Breuer in London, and with Prof P. Ghazal in SCGTI in Edinburgh on long oligonuceotide VZV microarrays to look at the transcriptional profiles of different patient's VZV isolates. For many years he has also researched the neuropathogenesis of human African trypansomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, primarily in a mouse model of the disease, but also more recently in human patients in Uganda.

Any other information: Dr Kennedy is President of the International Society for Neurovirology and Chairman of the Scientist Panel on Infections including AIDS of the European Federation of Neurological Societies. He is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1998) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1992).