Ioly Kotta-Loizou

I hold a BSc in Biology, a MSc in Bioinformatics and a PhD in Molecular Virology from the University of Athens, Greece. I am currently a Research Associate at the Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, UK. I teach mycovirology and next generation sequencing to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I am an Editor for the scientific journals Archives of Virology and Viruses and a Deputy Chair in the International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses.

I have a keen interest in microorganisms, especially viruses, and my studies focus on microbial life cycles and pathogenicity, together with potential applications in medicine and agriculture. Currently, I explore how mycoviruses found in pathogenic fungi targeting humans, plants or insects can affect fungus-host interactions and potentially be used in biological control. In parallel, I investigate RNA expression, damage and repair in bacteria, and how these processes can be linked to antibiotic resistance.