The virologist Jérémy Dufloo, a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology – a joint centre of the University of Valencia (UV) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) – has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC; European Research Council), a grant for researchers at the start of their scientific careers worth 1.5 million euros. Over the next five years, Dufloo will carry out the Fun-HERE project, which will study one of the least understood parts of the human genome: endogenous retroviruses (HERVs).

 

The project aims to uncover the functions of around a hundred envelope proteins from these HERVs – remnants of ancient viruses that infected humans millions of years ago and which, over time, have become integrated into our DNA. Specifically, it will seek to determine “whether these proteins have been repurposed by the body to perform important biological functions”, the researcher explains, as is the case with placenta formation; to ascertain whether they possess antiviral activity – which could reveal new natural defence mechanisms and, in the long term, contribute to the development of new antiviral drugs; to uncover a possible link with the development of diseases, such as cancer or autoimmune, infectious and neurological conditions; or to explore the existence of antibodies with therapeutic potential directed against them.

Thanks to this Starting Grant, worth 1.5 million euros, Jérémy Dufloo will put together a team of five researchers and, over the next five years, carry out the project ‘Unravelling the Functions of Human Endogenous Retrovirus Envelopes’.

About Jérémy Dufloo
His research focuses on the interactions between viruses and human cells, particularly the study of viral envelope proteins. He obtained his PhD in Infectious Diseases in 2021 from Université Paris Cité and the Institut Pasteur, where he studied antibody responses to HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. He subsequently joined the University of Valencia, where he carried out his postdoctoral research (EMBO and Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships). During this period, he studied the entry of viruses from different families into human cells, identified new viral receptors and analysed the evolution of viruses under different selective pressures. He has also published more than 30 scientific articles, some of them in the journals Nature Microbiology and Nature Communications.