Michelle West
Head of School, Professor of Tumour Virology
Email: michelle.west@qmul.ac.ukRoom Number: Room, 1.06A, G.E Fogg Building
Profile
I joined QMUL as Head of the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences and Professor of Tumour Virology in January 2026. I was previously Head of the School of Life Sciences and Professor of Tumour Virology at the University of Sussex, after holding roles as Deputy Head of School (Research and Enterprise) and Head of Department of Biochemistry and Biomedicine.
I studied for a BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Warwick and this is where I first became interested in cancer biology and gene regulation. This led me to my PhD project in the Department of Cancer Studies at the University of Birmingham working with Martin Rowe. My PhD studies focused on the regulation of transcription by the nuclear antigens (EBNAs) produced by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a tumour virus first discovered in Burkitt's lymphoma cells and now known to be involved in the development of numerous lymphomas (blood cancers) and carcinomas and more recently in the development of multiple sclerosis.
Following my PhD, an interest in gene regulation and the oncogene MYC (a key driver of Burkitt's lymphoma development) led me to my first post-doctoral position at the University of Leicester working with Anne Willis on translational control of MYC expression. In my second post-doctoral position at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, I returned to virology and worked on the regulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) transcription. In 2001, I set up my own group at the University of Sussex funded by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship and developed a research programme focusing on the mechanisms of EBV-driven tumourigenesis, the structure and function of EBV transcription factors and more recently, small molecule drug discovery to develop anti-EBV drugs.
Following my PhD, an interest in gene regulation and the oncogene MYC (a key driver of Burkitt's lymphoma development) led me to my first post-doctoral position at the University of Leicester working with Anne Willis on translational control of MYC expression. In my second post-doctoral position at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, I returned to virology and worked on the regulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) transcription. In 2001, I set up my own group at the University of Sussex funded by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship and developed a research programme focusing on the mechanisms of EBV-driven tumourigenesis, the structure and function of EBV transcription factors and more recently, small molecule drug discovery to develop anti-EBV drugs.