Alan Radford

Board Member

Alan Radford‘s main interests are in the genetic evolution of pathogens, especially viruses. His particular feline favourite is feline calicivirus, one of the main causes of feline upper respiratory tract disease (cat ‘flu).

Other recent projects include parvoviruses and coronavirus. Alan uses techniques including large scale structured sampling, robust phylogeny (tree drawing), and sequencing methods including both traditional Sanger sequencing and next generation sequencing. When applied together, these give new and powerful insights into the way pathogens like FCV evolve.

His other main interest is the use of electronic data for disease surveillance, and with colleagues at Liverpool is developing the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network.  SAVSNET uses a strict ethical protocol to allow it to collect large volumes of electronic data from both vets in practice and from commercial diagnostic labs. Over time, this data should build into a unique resource to explore new and existing disease burdens in companion animals, and how these change in space and time (www.liv.ac.uk/ savant).

My list of 10 selected publications

  • AD Radford, PC Turner, M Bennett, F McArdle, S Dawson, MA Glenn, RA Williams & RM Gaskell (1998). Quasispecies evolution of a hypervariable region of the feline calicivirus capsid gene in cell culture and in persistently infected cats. Journal of General Virology 79, 1-10.
  • AD Radford, K Willoughby, S Dawson, C McCracken & RM Gaskell (1999). The capsid gene of feline calicivirus contains linear B-cell epitopes in both variable and conserved regions. Journal of Virology 73 (10), 8496-8502.
  • AD Radford, LM Sommerville, S Dawson, AM Kerins, R Ryvar, & RM Gaskell (2001). Molecular analysis of feline calicivirus isolates within a complex feline population in a rescue shelter. Veterinary Record 149, 477-481.
  • LJ Kennedy, R Ryvar, J Brown, WER Ollier & AD Radford (2003). Resolution of complex feline leucocyte antigen DRB loci by reference strand-mediated conformational analysis (RSCA). Tissue Antigens 62, 313-323.
  • KP Coyne, RM Gaskell, S Dawson, CJ Porter and AD Radford (2007). Evolutionary mechanisms of persistence and diversification of a calicivirus within endemically infected natural host populations. Journal of Virology 81(4): 1961-71.
  • CJ Porter, AD Radford, RM Gaskell, R Ryvar, KP Coyne, GL Pinchbeck and S Dawson (2008). Comparison of the ability of feline calicivirus (FCV) vaccines to neutralise a panel of current UK FCV isolates. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 10: 32-40.
  • J Stavisky, GL Pinchbeck, AJ German, S Dawson, RM Gaskell, R Ryvar and AD Radford (2010). The prevalence of canine enteric coronavirus in a cross-sectional survey of dogs presenting at veterinary practices. Veterinary Microbiology 140, 18-24.
  • EN Barker, CR Helps, IR Peters, AC Darby, AD Radford and S Tasker (2011). Complete genome sequence of Mycoplasma haemofelis, a hemotropic mycoplasma. Journal of Bacteriology 193, 2060-1.
  • SR Clegg, KP Coyne, S Dawson, SA Godsall, G Pinchbeck, PJ Cripps, RM Gaskell and AD Radford (2011). Molecular epidemiology and phylogeny reveal complex spatial dynamics in areas where canine parvovirus is endemic. Journal of Virology 85, 7892-7899.
  • SR Clegg, KP Coyne, S Dawson, N Spibey, RM Gaskell and AD Radford (2012). Canine parvovirus in asymptomatic feline carriers. Veterinary Microbiology (accepted).