Etienne Thiry

Etienne Thiry is professor emeritus and head of veterinary virology and viral diseases laboratory, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Liège (ULg), Belgium. He is also part time professor of veterinary virology at the free university of Brussels (ULB). He was the head of the department of infectious and parasitic diseases of the veterinary faculty at ULg from 2001 to 2006. E. Thiry was born on the 4th of April 1957 in Brussels. He graduated as doctor in veterinary medicine in 1980 (ULg).He got a master of sciences in molecular biology in 1982 (ULB) and a doctorate in veterinary sciences in 1985 (ULg). In 1992, he was graduated in medical epidemiology from the university Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris. He was recognized in 2001 as diplomate of the European College for Veterinary Public Health. He won the International Pfizer award by the international committee of the World Buiatrics (bovine medicine) Society in 1996. He won the Gaston Ramon award by the French Academy of Veterinary Medicine in 2008. The Fédération des Associations francophones des vétérinaires d’Animaux de Compagnie (FAFVAC) recently awarded him with the prix de la Francophonie in 2011.

Etienne Thiry is member of the National Committee for Microbiology of the Belgian Royal Academy since 1999. He was the treasurer of the Belgian Society for Microbiology for ten years. He was the president of the Belgian Association of Animal Health and Epidemiology from 1999 to 2006. From 1994 to 2000, he was member of the board of the European Society for Veterinary Virology. He takes part to several scientific committees. Among others, he is member of the scientific committee of the Belgian Federal Food Safety Agency, the Belgian Scientific Committee for Influenza, the Belgian Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products and the scientific council as well as the expert committee for animal health at the French Food Safety Agency (Anses). He is also appointed as member (former acting chairman and vice-chairman) of the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD).

His research interests cover several aspects of animal virology, especially herpesviruses, caliciviruses, hepeviruses and orbiviruses. The study of animal virus-host interactions is the main topic of research of his laboratory. Especially the evolution of viral populations through recombination and reassortment of viral genetic sequences is investigated in alphaherpesvirus, norovirus and orbivirus genomes. The study of the cluster of ruminant alphaherpesviruses related to bovine herpesvirus 1, the zoonotic potential of hepatitis E virus, the molecular epidemiology of the foodborne noroviruses, sapoviruses and kobuviruses and the genetic variation of feline calicivirus are also part of his research activities. These scientific activities generated more than 380 papers in specialised scientific journals and 250 communications in scientific congresses. He was invited to publish a review on recombination in alphaherpesviruses in Reviews in Medical Virology. He was appointed in 2007 as guest editor of the special issue of the journal Veterinary Research on respiratory viruses of domestic animals. He already published four books in the collection Clinical Virology (Le Point Vétérinaire – Wolters-Kluwer) on clinical virology of ruminants, dogs and cats, swine and equids.

etienne.thiry@ulg.ac.be          

https://www.fmv.uliege.be/cms/c_4760148/en/department-of-infectious-and-parasitic-diseases

My list of 10 selected publications

• Zicola A., Jolly S., Mathijs E., Ziant D., Decaro N., Mari V., Thiry E. Fatal outbreaks in dogs associated with pantropic canine coronavirus in France and Belgium. J. Small Anim. Pract., 2012, in press.
• Mauroy A., Gillet L., Mathijs E., Vanderplasschen A., Thiry E. Alternative attachment factors and internalisation pathways for GIII.2 bovine noroviruses. J. Gen. Virol., 2011, 92, 1398-1409.
• Mathijs E., Muylkens B., Mauroy A., Ziant D., Delwiche T.,Thiry E. Experimental evidence of recombination in murine noroviruses. J. Gen. Virol., 2010, 91, 2723-2733.
• Zicola A., Saegerman C., Quatpers D., Viandier J., Thiry E. Feline herpesvirus 1 and feline calicivirus infections in a heterogeneous cat population of a rescue shelter. J. Feline Med. Surg., 2009, 11, 1023-1027.
• Muylkens B., Farnir F., Meurens F., Schynts F., Vanderplasschen A., Georges M., Thiry E. Co-infection with two closely related alphaherpesviruses results in a highly diversified recombination mosaic displaying negative genetic interference. J. Virol., 2009, 83, 3127-3137.
• Davison A.J., Eberle R., Ehlers B., Hayward G.S., McGeoch D.J., Minson A.C., Pellett P.E., Roizman B., Studdert M.J., Thiry E. The Order Herpesvirales. Virology Division News. Arch. Virol., 2009, 154, 171-177.
• Gaskell R., Dawson S., Radford A., Thiry E. Feline herpesvirus. Vet. Res., 2007, 38, 337-354.
• Thiry E., Zicola A., Addie D., Egberink H., Hartmann K., Lutz H., Poulet H., Horzinek M.C. Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus in cats and other carnivores. Vet. Microbiol., 2007, 122, 25-31.
• Thiry E., Horzinek M.C. Vaccination guidelines: a bridge between official requirements and the daily use of vaccines. In: P.-P. Pastoret, M. Lombard, A.A.Schudel (Coordinators).Animal vaccination Part 2: scientific, economic, regulatory and socio-ethical aspects Rev. sci. tech. Off. int. Epiz., 2007, 26, 511-517.
• Thiry E., Meurens F., Muylkens B., Mc Voy M., Gogev S., Thiry J., Vanderplasschen A., Epstein A., Keil G.M., Schynts F. Recombination in alphaherpesviruses. Rev. Med. Virol., 2005, 15, 89-103.