Rate My Professor Jane McKeating

Professor Jane McKeating is Professor of Molecular Virology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine within the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. She leads the McKeating Group, which investigates viruses as intracellular pathogens and the host pathways that define susceptibility to viral infection and associated disease progression. Employing advanced techniques such as spatial mapping of infected cells at single-cell resolution, her team identifies factors regulating virus tissue tropism. Current research centers on hepatitis B and D viruses, major causes of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Studies explore the roles of hypoxia-inducible factors in viral transcription, hepatocyte-intrinsic and extrinsic pathways influencing host susceptibility, and spatial transcriptional profiling alongside single-molecule resolution imaging to elucidate virus-host interactions. Additional work examines respiratory viruses, including demonstrations that hypoxia suppresses SARS-CoV-2 replication and inflammatory responses, while hypoxia-inducible factor mimetic drugs inhibit infection by activating innate immune sensing and interferon signaling pathways.

Jane McKeating joined the University of Oxford in 2017 as Professor of Molecular Virology. She holds a Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship and Visiting Professorship at the Technical University of Munich and serves as a Founding Fellow of Reuben College. Her research group, established in the Target Discovery Institute, receives funding from the Wellcome Trust Discovery Award, Medical Research Council, and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Oxford Institute. Notable contributions include key publications such as 'Episomal and integrated hepatitis B transcriptome mapping uncovers heterogeneity with the potential for drug-resistance' (Harris JM et al., 2025, Nature Communications), 'Long-persisting SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD4+ T cells associated with mild disease and increased cytotoxicity post COVID-19' (Liu G et al., 2025, Nature Communications), 'Characterisation of HBV and co-infection with HDV and HIV through spatial transcriptomics' (Cross A et al., 2024, eGastroenterology), 'Oxygen-dependent histone lysine demethylase 4 restricts hepatitis B virus replication' (Harris JM et al., 2024, Journal of Biological Chemistry), and 'Hypoxia inducible factors inhibit respiratory syncytial virus infection by modulation of nucleolin expression' (Zhuang X et al., 2024, iScience). Recognized internationally for advancing understanding of viral tropism and pathology, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2024, received the Founders Award for Research Excellence from the University of Birmingham in 2015, and was awarded the Fleming Prize by the Microbiology Society.