Rate My Professor Stephan Graham

Professor Stephen Graham is Professor of Virus:Host Interactions in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, where he leads the Atomic Virology Group within the Virology Division. He earned his PhD in bacterial enzymology from the University of Sydney in 2006. Following this, he conducted postdoctoral research in structural virology at the University of Oxford from 2006 to 2009 and in eukaryotic membrane trafficking at the University of Cambridge from 2009 to 2012. Graham established his independent laboratory in 2012 as a Sir Henry Dale Fellow, jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society, with the fellowship extended for three years in 2017. He was promoted to full University Professor in October 2022. His group emphasizes a collaborative, diverse environment for training PhD students and postdocs.

Graham's research elucidates the molecular mechanisms viruses employ to invade host cells, remodel intracellular membrane architecture and composition, replicate, assemble progeny virions, and evade host innate immune recognition, particularly for enveloped neurotropic viruses such as herpes simplex virus and emerging threats like SARS-CoV-2 and Oropouche virus. The lab integrates structural biology techniques including X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, biophysics, quantitative proteomics, computational modeling with AI and molecular dynamics, and cell-based infection assays to reveal virus-host interactions informing antiviral therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics. Notable publications include 'AP2 controls clathrin polymerization with a membrane-activated switch' (Science, 2014), 'Paired receptor specificity explained by structures of signal regulatory proteins alone and complexed with CD47' (Molecular Cell, 2008), 'Tegument assembly and secondary envelopment of alphaherpesviruses' (Viruses, 2015), 'The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein has a broad tropism for mammalian ACE2 proteins' (PLoS Biology, 2020), and 'Retroviruses contributed to vertebrate myelination evolution' (Cell, 2024). His contributions extend to international collaborations and development of novel detection reagents and resistance-preventing antiviral strategies.