Strange title, considering she's supposedly still with us.
"Charles' Surprisingly Busy Travel Schedule After The Queen's Death Will Leave No Time To Waste"
Not sure if this has been posted here yet.
Looking at recent coronavirus patents, the name Paul Britton comes up a lot as an inventor. He's a member of THE PIRBRIGHT INSTITUTE.
Here's their writeup: "We are a world leading centre of excellence in research and surveillance of virus diseases of farm animals and viruses that spread from animals to humans. We receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and work to enhance capability to contain, control and eliminate these economically and medically important diseases through highly innovative fundamental and applied bioscience.
The Institute employs around 450 staff, research students and visiting scientists, and has recently moved to one campus in Pirbright, Surrey, where investment by BBSRC has resulted in a redevelopment of the site and the construction of a high level containment facility – the BBSRC National Virology Centre: The Plowright Building and a SAPO level two facility, The Jenner Building."
I'll list his patents here, maybe we can start connecting more dots.
**Infectious bronchitis virus with an altered spike gene
Patent number: 7445785
Abstract: The present invention provides a vaccine for use in the protection of poultry against infectious bronchitis comprising an attenuated infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and a pharmaceutical acceptable carrier or diluent, characterized in that the attenuated IBV comprises a heterologous spike gene. Such a vaccine is based on IBV strain Beaudette that is able to express a spike gone derived from a different IBV strain. The vaccines provided by the present invention also allow the administration via the in ovo route.
Type: Grant
Filed: March 3, 2004
Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
Assignees: Intervet International B.V., Institute for Animal Health
Inventors: David Cavanagh, Paul Britton, Ian Tarpey
Chimaeric protein
Patent number: 8828407
Abstract: The present invention provides a chimaeric coronavirus S protein which is based on an S protein from a coronavirus strain with restricted tissue tropism, but which comprises at least part of the S2 subunit from a coronavirus strain with extended tissue tropism, such that a virus comprising the chimaeric S protein has extended tissue tropism. The present invention also provides a virus comprising such a chimaeric S protein.
Type: Grant
Filed: July 5, 2010
Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
Assignee: The Pirbright Institute
Inventors: Paul Britton, Erica Bickerton, Maria Armesto
MUTANT SPIKE PROTEIN EXTENDING THE TISSUE TROPISM OF INFECTIOUS BRONCHITIS VIRUS (IBV)
Publication number: 20160060303
Abstract: The present invention provides an infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) spike protein (S protein) which is based on an S protein from an IBV strain with restricted tissue tropism, but which comprises the sequence XBBXBX in the part of the S2 protein corresponding to residues 686 to 691 of the sequence given as SEQ ID No. 2, where B is a basic residue and X is any amino acid; and which comprises at least one of the following amino acid substitutions with reference to the position numbering of SEQ ID NO:2: Leucine (L) to Phenylalanine (F) at position 578 Asparagine (N) to Serine (S) at position 617 Asparagine (N) to Serine (S) at position 826 Leucine (L) to Phenylalanine (F) at position 857 and Isoleucine (I) to Valine (V) at position 1000 such that an IBV virus comprising the S protein has extended tissue tropism. The present invention also provides a virus comprising such an S protein.
Type: Application
Filed: May 1, 2014
Publication date: March 3, 2016
Inventors: Paul Britton, Erica Bickerton
Coronavirus
Patent number: 10130701
Abstract: The present invention provides a live, attenuated coronavirus comprising a variant replicase gene encoding polyproteins comprising a mutation in one or more of non-structural protein(s) (nsp)-10, nsp-14, nsp-15 or nsp-16. The coronavirus may be used as a vaccine for treating and/or preventing a disease, such as infectious bronchitis, in a subject.
Type: Grant
Filed: July 23, 2015
Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
Assignee: THE PIRBRIGHT INSTITUTE
Inventors: Erica Bickerton, Sarah Keep, Paul Britton
Attenuated infectious bronchitis virus
Patent number: 11202825
Abstract: The present invention provides a live, attenuated coronavirus comprising a mutation in non-structural protein nsp-3 and/or deletion of accessory proteins 3a and 3b. The coronavirus may be used as a vaccine for treating and/or preventing a disease, such as infectious bronchitis, in a subject.
Type: Grant
Filed: January 26, 2017
Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
Assignee: THE PIRBRIGHT INSTITUTE
Inventors: Erica Bickerton, Sarah Keep, Paul Britton