£1.3m awarded to Imperial team investigating new approach to stop flu transmission

The funding from Flu Lab will be used to explore new ways to stop flu spreading through the air.

Researchers at Imperial College London have been awarded £1.3 million from Flu Lab to investigate an approach to reduce the spread of influenza (flu) and other airborne infectious diseases.

The project co-led by Dr Rachel Edgar and Dr Anika Singanayagam will use innovative laboratory tools coupled with clinical and public health expertise to explore whether glycol-based air treatments could be used to inactivate viruses before they infect people.

This collaborative research brings together expertise from Imperial, the Francis Crick Institute and the Pirbright Institute to generate much-needed evidence on a technology that could become an important tool for responding to seasonal outbreaks, future pandemics or biosecurity threats.

“Molecules such as propylene glycol have been used safely around people for decades and are already found in a range of everyday products such as air fresheners and nasal sprays” said Dr Rachel Edgar, Group Leader at the Department of Infectious Disease and the Francis Crick Institute. “We’re interested in understanding whether they could provide a practical, cost-effective way to reduce the amount of infectious virus circulating in the air and therefore help interrupt transmission.”

This research will build on earlier work to understand airborne transmission of viruses. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers developed a specialised ‘transmission tunnel’ to study how infectious flu viruses move between hosts. More recent studies using this laboratory system showed that glycols are capable of inactivating a range of human viruses in airborne particles. However, the researchers caution there needs to be more targeted research to understand whether this approach could work in real-world settings.

Using animal models for transmission studies

Demonstrating transmission blockade between people is difficult, therefore the project aims to first use a series of controlled experimental models beginning with laboratory experiments and progressing to animal transmission studies. Scientists will investigate whether the glycol interventions can prevent the spread of flu to human airway cells, and then between hamsters. Through collaborations at the Pirbright Institute, transmission interruption will subsequently be tested in pigs, which are considered one of the most valuable models for understanding influenza transmission due to their similarities with human infection.

As part of the programme, the scientists will expand and refine their “transmission tunnel” platform, which will improve our understanding of pathogen transmission and reduce the need for animal experimentation in future studies. The project also aims to develop and test other technologies capable of measuring when pathogens are emitted by infected hosts and demonstrate how interventions may reduce transmission.

“Our goal should not be to expect to find a single solution that eliminates transmission,” says Dr Anika Singanayagam, Senior Clinical Research Fellow at Imperial College, who leads the National Respiratory Virus Reference laboratory at UK Health Security Agency. “Preventing infection at a population level will require a layered approach that combines multiple interventions. This work will help us understand whether reducing the amount of virus in the environment can play a meaningful role alongside measures such as vaccination, masks or air-cleaning technologies like ventilation.”

Tackling further airborne pathogens

Because glycols act on the structure of pathogens as they travel through the environment rather than targeting specific strains, the researchers believe the findings of this study could have broader “pan-pathogen” implications for other airborne infections, including future pandemic threats.

In the future, the researchers hope the programme will generate evidence to inform transmission studies in controlled human infection models and support the development of new public health interventions that reduce the transmission of respiratory infections.

Imperial College London has received a £1.3 million grant from Flu Lab, an organization founded to advance innovative approaches for the prevention and treatment of influenza.

Find out more about the mission and objectives of Flu Lab.

At Imperial College London, the use of animals in research is strictly regulated by ethical committees ensuring all animals are treated with the uttermost respect and in line with high standards of welfare and care. You can find out more about our commitment on our 3Rs hub website where we aim to foster and attract scientific excellence, educate current and future alumni and support all levels of staff to ultimately fulfil our long-term commitment in replacing the use of animals in scientific research.