Paul Young

Paul Young is Professor of Virology and Head of School (School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences) at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

He is also the UQ vaccine project co-leader. In 2020, UQ was tasked by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to use its vaccine technology to develop a coronavirus vaccine, and has collaborated with the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), the ANU and CSIRO to design, develop, manufacture and understand its immune response. (Read the latest on UQ's vaccine development here: https://research.uq.edu.au/covid-19)

Paul is a past President of the Australian Society for Microbiology, the Australasian Virology Society and the South East Asian Society for Medical Virology.

He completed his basic science degree in Australia before moving to the UK where he was awarded his PhD in 1986 from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He began his dengue research program at the LSHTM, initially in the area of vaccine development and supported by the WHO. He returned to Australia in 1989 and joined the University of Queensland in 1991. His current interests are in the molecular virology, diagnosis, vaccine and therapeutic control of dengue and West Nile viruses as well as respiratory syncytial virus and emerging virus infections. He is also investigating the current invasion of the koala genome by a novel retrovirus and its impact on disease in this iconic species.

In addition to our basic and translational research program, funded through external national and international public granting agencies, we undertake both collaborative and contract research with the biotech industry. In particular, our virology expertise and state-of-the-art facilities allows us to perform compound screens in a panel of in-house developed assays for mode of action studies against a range of viral targets - including, dengue, West Nile, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, herpes and others.