I am a molecular and computational microbiologist with a passion for everything viral.

I started my research career at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium) investigating the use of bacteriophages (viruses of bacteria) as a biological control agent in potato plant production. As part of this project, co-funded by the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research Flanders (ILVO), I isolated novel phages which I extensively characterised for commercial suitability, including genomics, production optimisation and in planta trials.

During my time as a postdoc (University of Pretoria, South Africa & University of Liverpool, UK), I specialised in viromics or viral metagenomics, to elucidate viral community diversity in a range of habitats. I have conducted research on extreme environments, such as the Namib Desert and the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where I studied several niche habitats such as hypoliths, hyperarid soil and saline springs. Using this expertise, I used viromics approaches to investigate the spread of pathogenic viruses from wastewater effluent into a river catchment area in the North of Wales and determine the potential for food- and waterborne illness.

I joined the Quadram Institute in January 2019 where my group is investigating the role of viruses, in particular bacteriophages, in the human gut and the environment, and how we can exploit some of these viruses to improve environmental and human health and treat disease. My group specialises in sequencing-based approaches to understand phages, including genomics, functional genomics, viromics and metagenomics, as well as classical phage biology.

I am the Vice President of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).

Key Publications

Pye HV, Krishnamurthi R, Cook R, Adriaenssens EM* (2024) Phage diversity in One Health. Essays in Biochemistry EBC20240012. DOI: 10.1042/EBC20240012

Cook R, Telatin A, Bouras G, Camargo AP, Larralde M, Edwards RA, Adriaenssens EM (2024) Driving through stop signs: predicting stop codon reassignment improves functional annotation of bacteriophages. ISME Communications ycae079. DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.24.568560

Adriaenssens EM, Roux S, Brister JR, Karsch-Mizrachi I, Kuhn JH, Varsani A, Yigang T, Reyes A, Lood C, Lefkowitz EJ, Sullivan MB, Edwards RA, Simmonds P, Rubino L, Sabanadzovic S, Krupovic M, Dutilh BE (2023) Guidelines for public database submission of uncultivated virus genome sequences for taxonomic classification. Nature Biotechnology 41:898-902. DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01844-2

Simmonds P, Adriaenssens EM, Zerbini FM, Abrescia NGA, Aiewsakun P, Alfenas-Zerbini P, Bao Y, Barylski J, Drosten C, Duffy S, Duprex WP, Dutilh BE, Elena SF, García ML, Junglen S, Katzourakis A, Koonin EV, Krupovic M, Kuhn JH, Lambert AJ, Lefkowitz EJ, Łobocka M, Lood C, Mahony J, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Mushegian AR, Oksanen HM, Poranen MM, Reyes-Muñoz A, Robertson DL, Roux S, Rubino L, Sabanadzovic S, Siddell S, Skern T, Smith DB, Sullivan MB, Suzuki N, Turner D, Van Doorslaer K, Vandamme AM, Varsani A, Vasilakis N. Four principles to establish a universal virus taxonomy. PLoS Biology 21:e3001922. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001922

Adriaenssens EM (2021) Phage diversity in the human gut microbiome: a taxonomist’s perspective. mSystems 6:00799-21. DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00799-21