2026 Ker Memorial Prize awarded for work on Coronaviruses

The Ker Prize is awarded annually to the student submitting the best PhD thesis in infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, and a mark of great distinction for both the student and their supervisor.

Bats are natural hosts of zoonotic viruses, meaning they carry viruses that can “jump” into humans and occasionally cause outbreaks. The most notable example is the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, which originated from horseshoe bats.

Intriguingly, bats often carry viruses without developing severe disease. This special ability has been proposed to be related to their unique immunity. By comparing the immune system of bats and other mammals, Nelly’s thesis work revealed that bats have evolved a distinct set of antiviral genes called IFITMs.

In particular, the Chinese rufous horseshoe bat, a natural host of SARS-related coronaviruses, adopts a strategy known as alternative splicing to generate IFITMs with distinct functions and protect against a wider range of viruses. By tracing IFITM evolution, she further showed that this is a recurring strategy to generate immune diversity and is more prevalent in bats compared to other mammals.

Nelly’s findings reflect the long-standing arms race between viruses and their host, and provide novel insights into how bats remain healthy while carrying numerous viruses. Understanding what makes bats “special” could unlock innovative therapeutic strategies to treat viral infections in humans.

The pathology of infectious diseases is shaped by the complex interaction between pathogens and their host, meaning disease outcomes can vary markedly across species. Understanding host–pathogen relationships is particularly important for zoonotic diseases, in which animal pathogens spillover into humans.

COVID-19 is one such example, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, believed to have originated in bats. Although many domestic and wild animals are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, pigs appear resistant despite their physiological similarities to humans. Ocean’s PhD aimed to address this question, by investigating interactions between the porcine immune response and coronaviruses.

His work identified a distinct set of genes that are activated in pig cells following coronavirus infection, but which are not activated cells from other species. Importantly, several of these genes were shown to restrict SARS-CoV-2 infection, providing insights into the natural resistance of pigs to this virus.

In addition, Ocean contributed to the characterisation of a transgenic humanised pig model susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. This establishes a valuable large-animal model alternative to non-human primates for studying COVID-19 pathogenesis and developing therapeutic strategies.  

This year five students were nominated – any one of whom the judges said would have been worth winners of the prize.  

About the Ker family and the Ker Memorial gift

Ker Memorial Prize winners

Ker Memorial lecturers