Professor Michelle West
Head of School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Professor of Tumour Virology
School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
Research
Epstein-Barr Virus, Transcription, epigenetics, cancer, structural biology, drug discovery
Interests
Mechanisms of Epstein-Barr Virus B cell transformation and its role in cancer development. Transcriptional regulation by the EBV transcription factors, EBNA2, 3A, 3B and 3C. Enhancer-promoter interactions and 3D chromatin reorganisation. Impact of sequence variation on the structure and function of EBV proteins, including the latent replication factor EBNA 1. Structure-led drug discovery of inhibitors of EBNA1 for the development of new therapeutics.
Publications

Publications of specific relevance to the Centre for Molecular Cell Biology
2025
Repression of CADM1 transcription by HPV type 18 is mediated by three-dimensional rearrangement of promoter-enhancer interactionsCampos-León K Ferguson J Günther T Wood CD Wingett SW Pekel S Varghese CS Jones LS et al.
Plos Pathogens,
Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 21 (1)
27-01-20252024
A Shared Receptor Suggests a Common Ancestry between an Insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis Cry Protein and an Anti-Cancer ParasporinBryce-Sharron N Nasiri M Powell T West MJ Crickmore N
Biomolecules,
Mdpi vol. 14 (7)
04-07-20242022
Regulation of B cell receptor signalling by Epstein–Barr virus nuclear antigensKhasnis S Veenstra H McClellan MJ Ojeniyi O Wood CD West MJ
Biochemical Journal,
Portland Press vol. 479 (23), 2395-2417.
07-12-2022
Dissecting the impact of bromodomain inhibitors on the Interferon Regulatory Factor 4‐MYC oncogenic axis in multiple myelomaAgnarelli A Mitchell S Caalim G Wood CD Milton‐Harris L Chevassut T West MJ Mancini EJ
Hematological Oncology,
Wiley vol. 40 (3), 417-429.
18-05-2022
Probing the Mechanism of Action of Cry41Aa on HepG2 through the Establishment of a Resistant SublineSouissi W Alistair T Domanska B Fortea E West MJ Schwartz J-L Crickmore N
Toxins,
Mdpi vol. 14 (5)
29-04-20222019
Differential proteolytic activation of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry41Aa parasporin modulates its anticancer effect.Souissi W Kaloki A Etherington S Domanska B West MJ Crickmore N
Biochemical Journal,
Portland Press vol. 476 (24), 3805-3816.
23-12-2019
Increased association between Epstein-Barr virus EBNA2 from type 2 strains and the transcriptional repressor BS69 restricts EBNA2 activityPonnusamy R Khatri R Correia PB Wood CD Mancini EJ Farrell PJ West MJ
Plos Pathogens,
Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 15 (7)
08-07-2019
The role of membrane-bound metal ions in toxicity of a human cancer cell-active pore-forming toxin Cry41Aa from Bacillus thuringiensisDomanska B Fortea E West MJ Schwartz J-L Crickmore N
Toxicon,
Elsevier vol. 167, 123-133.
07-06-20192018
Disruption of CTCF-YY1–dependent looping of the human papillomavirus genome activates differentiation-induced viral oncogene transcriptionPentland I Campos-León K Cotic M Davies K-J Wood CD Groves IJ Burley M Coleman N et al.
Plos Biology,
Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 16 (10)
25-10-2018
Enhancer Control of MicroRNA miR-155 Expression in Epstein-Barr Virus-Infected B CellsWood CD Carvell T Gunnell A Ojeniyi OO Osborne C West MJ
Journal of Virology,
American Society For Microbiology vol. 92 (19), 10.1128/jvi.00716-10.1128/jvi.00718.
12-09-2018
Pumilio directs deadenylation-associated translational repression of the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 activator RGC-32Brocard M Khasnis S Wood CD Shannon-Lowe C West MJ
Nucleic Acids Research,
Oxford University Press (OUP) vol. 46 (7)
27-01-20182016
MYC activation and BCL2L11 silencing by a tumour virus through the large-scale reconfiguration of enhancer-promoter hubsWood CD Veenstra H Khasnis S Gunnell A Webb HM Shannon-Lowe C Andrews S Osborne CS et al.
Elife,
Elife vol. 5
04-08-20161994
Precipitation of the Epstein—Barr virus protein EBNA 2 by an EBNA 3c-specific monoclonal antibodyMaunders MJ Petti L Rowe M
Journal of General Virology,
Microbiology Society vol. 75 (4), 769-778.
01-04-1994
Research Group