Paul Farrell's research is mostly on mechanisms by which the human tumour virus Epstein-Barr Virus causes human cells to proliferate and the role of the virus in human diseases.

Download a copy of the EBV genetic map EBV map (link in side bar)

Epstein-Barr virus is a human herpesvirus that infects most people in the world early in life and then persists life-long. Primary EBV infection that is delayed until adolescence or adulthood frequently causes infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever). Most carriers of EBV show no symptoms or pathology but in some circumstances EBV is associated with human cancers, the virus normally being present in all of the malignant cells of an EBV associated case. These cancers include lymphomas in immunosuppressed people (either as a result of medication after transplant surgery or AIDS), Hodgkin's disease, Burkitt's lymphoma in central Africa, nasopharyngeal carcinoma in South-East Asia and some gastric carcinomas. Auto-immune cross-reactions of EBV immune responses with neurons or glial cells are also thought likely to cause many cases of multiple sclerosis, particularly when the EBV infection was delayed until adulthood.

Paul Farrell was Head of Molecular Virology at Imperial College 1996-2000 and 2011-2018. He was also Director of the London St Mary's branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research 1986-2005, at the same location. From 2009 - 2016 he chaired the Research Grants committee for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research charity (now called Blood Cancer UK) and he has served on numerous international advisory and review committees.

Current research is focussed on

Role of EBV in human cancers and multiple sclerosis

EBV sequence variation in relation to EBV diseases