Emma Thompson
Emma works as an infectious diseases and general (internal) medicine consultant with specialist interests in early hepatitis C infection, HCV drug resistance and co-infection at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and has experience looking after patients with a wide range of infectious diseases. She is member of the British HIV Association Hepatitis Sub-committee and works as an external consultant for the World Health Organisation. Emma has served on the Guidelines Development Group (GDG) for the WHO Guidelines for the Care, Screening and Treatment of Hepatitis C since 2015 and wrotes the first draft of the guidelines in 2014.
1. Project: ISARIC - Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium.
2. Project: COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium
Summary: The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium is a collaboration between the NHS, Public Health England and other UK public health agencies, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge and other academic institutions. The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium aims to increase the current capacity for SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequencing in the UK. This sequencing data will be used to understand the epidemiology and spread of the virus, and to monitor and evaluate interventions for COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 genomic data will be integrated with NHS electronic health records and other existing genomic data to generate insights into susceptibility to COVID-19. From within the DPHPC, Professor John Danesh is a member of the COG-UK Steering Group, Dr Ewan Harrison will serve as the Scientific Project Manager and Dr Michael Chapman will lead the health informatics component.
3. Project: 'ASTERIX: Adaptive Salvage Treatment based on Endotype-directed anti-viRals and Immunomodulation – an NHS framework to enable research and clinical trials'
Summary: Scotland is well-positioned to contribute to the urgent need for COVID-19 treatments. To do this it is necessary to understand the disease and quickly bring new treatments to Scottish patients in trials. The ASTERIX framework will be integrated into clinical systems so that frontline staff are not burdened, using repurposed NHS infrastructure and staff. ASTERIX will allow to learn quickly, while under huge clinical pressures, and streamline patients into trials. This learning will include how to treat COVID-19 and how to ensure that critical trial results are robust and relevant to Scottish patients.
The study is led by:
Professor Kevin Blyth, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Iain McInnes, University of Glasgow
Co-investigator and institutions:
Professor Andrew Biankin, University of Glasgow
Professor Rob Jones, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Professor Emma Thomson, MRC University of Glasgow Centre of Virus Research
Dr Janet Scott, MRC University of Glasgow Centre of Virus Research
Professor Carl Goodyear, University of Glasgow
Clare Orange, NHSGGC Biorepository
Dr David Lowe, National Clinical Lead for Digital Health & Clinical Informatics DHI, NHSGGC
Dr Michael Murphy, Microbiology, NHSGGC
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £17,000
4. Project: Glasgow Early Treatment Arm FavIpiravir (GETAFIX).
Summary: A randomized controlled study of favipiravir as an early treatment arm of ASTERIX in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Favipiravir is used in Japan to treat influenza and can kill SARS-CoV2 in the laboratory. The drug is safe in healthy volunteers and reached concentrations in the body needed to kill the virus. In China, 35 COVID-19 patients treated with Favipiravir recovered in 4 days compared to those treated with Lopinavir/ritonavir (45 patients) who took 11 days. The study proposes to treat COVID-19 patients with Favipiravir to see if it improves their chances of recovery without needing admission to intensive care, looks at what happens once Favipiravir is metabolised by the body, and checks for drug resistance. The study is led by Dr Janet Scott, MRC - University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), University of Glasgow.
Co-investigators and institutions:
Professor Emma Thomson, CVR, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Kevin Blyth, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Rob Jones, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Professor Jim Paul, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Dr Glen Burley, Department of Chemistry, University of Strathclyde
Dr Samantha Carmichael, NHSGGC
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £156,510
5. Project: Viral and Immunological Correlates of Clinical Severity and Response to Anti-Viral Therapy for COVID-19
Summary: The clinical outcome of COVID-19 is ultimately determined by viral replication in the face of the host immunity. The latter can either control viral infection or exacerbate disease due to uncontrolled inflammatory processes that damages tissues. Hence, in order to establish the efficacy of antiviral therapies and determine whether stratification can aid clinical decisions in COVID19 patients, the study needs to identify correlates of disease severity and response to treatment. This proposal aims to fully determine the dynamic viral and immunological changes occurring during the different clinical stages of COVID-19. They will use a clinical trial for Favipiravir (GETAFIX, GLA3), an antiviral drug as their test case to develop their biomarkers but can roll this project out to support other trials within ASTERIX (GLA2). The study is led by Professor Carl Goodyear, University of Glasgow.
Co-investigators and institutions at University of Glasgow:
Professor Massimo Palmarini
Professor Iain McInnes
Professor Brian Willett
Professor Emma Thomson
Professor Gerard Graham
Professor Paul Garside
Professor Naveed Sattar
Professor Andrew Biankin
Professor David Robertson
Dr Janet Scott
Dr Antonia Ho
Dr Thomas Otto
Dr Ana Da Silva Filipe
Co-investigators and institutions at GGCHB NHS:
Dr Michael Murphy
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £319,473
1. Project: ISARIC - Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium.
2. Project: COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium
Summary: The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium is a collaboration between the NHS, Public Health England and other UK public health agencies, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge and other academic institutions. The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium aims to increase the current capacity for SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequencing in the UK. This sequencing data will be used to understand the epidemiology and spread of the virus, and to monitor and evaluate interventions for COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 genomic data will be integrated with NHS electronic health records and other existing genomic data to generate insights into susceptibility to COVID-19. From within the DPHPC, Professor John Danesh is a member of the COG-UK Steering Group, Dr Ewan Harrison will serve as the Scientific Project Manager and Dr Michael Chapman will lead the health informatics component.
3. Project: 'ASTERIX: Adaptive Salvage Treatment based on Endotype-directed anti-viRals and Immunomodulation – an NHS framework to enable research and clinical trials'
Summary: Scotland is well-positioned to contribute to the urgent need for COVID-19 treatments. To do this it is necessary to understand the disease and quickly bring new treatments to Scottish patients in trials. The ASTERIX framework will be integrated into clinical systems so that frontline staff are not burdened, using repurposed NHS infrastructure and staff. ASTERIX will allow to learn quickly, while under huge clinical pressures, and streamline patients into trials. This learning will include how to treat COVID-19 and how to ensure that critical trial results are robust and relevant to Scottish patients.
The study is led by:
Professor Kevin Blyth, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Iain McInnes, University of Glasgow
Co-investigator and institutions:
Professor Andrew Biankin, University of Glasgow
Professor Rob Jones, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Professor Emma Thomson, MRC University of Glasgow Centre of Virus Research
Dr Janet Scott, MRC University of Glasgow Centre of Virus Research
Professor Carl Goodyear, University of Glasgow
Clare Orange, NHSGGC Biorepository
Dr David Lowe, National Clinical Lead for Digital Health & Clinical Informatics DHI, NHSGGC
Dr Michael Murphy, Microbiology, NHSGGC
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £17,000
4. Project: Glasgow Early Treatment Arm FavIpiravir (GETAFIX).
Summary: A randomized controlled study of favipiravir as an early treatment arm of ASTERIX in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Favipiravir is used in Japan to treat influenza and can kill SARS-CoV2 in the laboratory. The drug is safe in healthy volunteers and reached concentrations in the body needed to kill the virus. In China, 35 COVID-19 patients treated with Favipiravir recovered in 4 days compared to those treated with Lopinavir/ritonavir (45 patients) who took 11 days. The study proposes to treat COVID-19 patients with Favipiravir to see if it improves their chances of recovery without needing admission to intensive care, looks at what happens once Favipiravir is metabolised by the body, and checks for drug resistance. The study is led by Dr Janet Scott, MRC - University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), University of Glasgow.
Co-investigators and institutions:
Professor Emma Thomson, CVR, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Kevin Blyth, NHSGGC, University of Glasgow
Professor Rob Jones, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Professor Jim Paul, CRUK Glasgow CTU, University of Glasgow
Dr Glen Burley, Department of Chemistry, University of Strathclyde
Dr Samantha Carmichael, NHSGGC
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £156,510
5. Project: Viral and Immunological Correlates of Clinical Severity and Response to Anti-Viral Therapy for COVID-19
Summary: The clinical outcome of COVID-19 is ultimately determined by viral replication in the face of the host immunity. The latter can either control viral infection or exacerbate disease due to uncontrolled inflammatory processes that damages tissues. Hence, in order to establish the efficacy of antiviral therapies and determine whether stratification can aid clinical decisions in COVID19 patients, the study needs to identify correlates of disease severity and response to treatment. This proposal aims to fully determine the dynamic viral and immunological changes occurring during the different clinical stages of COVID-19. They will use a clinical trial for Favipiravir (GETAFIX, GLA3), an antiviral drug as their test case to develop their biomarkers but can roll this project out to support other trials within ASTERIX (GLA2). The study is led by Professor Carl Goodyear, University of Glasgow.
Co-investigators and institutions at University of Glasgow:
Professor Massimo Palmarini
Professor Iain McInnes
Professor Brian Willett
Professor Emma Thomson
Professor Gerard Graham
Professor Paul Garside
Professor Naveed Sattar
Professor Andrew Biankin
Professor David Robertson
Dr Janet Scott
Dr Antonia Ho
Dr Thomas Otto
Dr Ana Da Silva Filipe
Co-investigators and institutions at GGCHB NHS:
Dr Michael Murphy
Funder: Chief Scientist Office
Total award: £319,473