Summary
Dr Anika Singanayagam is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Section of Adult Infectious Disease at Imperial College London. She is Principal Investigator on a SARS-CoV-2 controlled human challenge study, working with Prof Chris Chiu. She also actively collaborates on the ATACCC SARS-CoV-2 household contact study, via the NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections. Her expertise in the virology and transmission of respiratory viruses (e.g. influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV).
Anika graduated in Medicine (BM BCh MA) from Oxford University in 2008. She completed general medical training in London and subsequently entered Infectious Diseases specialty training as an Academic Clinical Fellow in 2012.
Her PhD research (funded by a national Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship) on pandemic influenza viruses was in the laboratory of Prof Wendy Barclay at Imperial College. Using in vitro and animal models, she demonstrated how influenza virus stability is important for human adaptation and airborne transmission. More detail can be found here and here. Her doctoral work also involved investigating virological causes of reduced effectiveness of the nasally-administered live attenuated influenza vaccine.
Anika also has close links to UKHSA. At UKHSA, she has worked in the Virus Reference Department, primarily within the Respiratory Virus Unit and Polio Reference Service. She was a key member of the Virology Cell of the COVID-19 National Incident Management Team from the onset of the pandemic in January 2020. Her role involved providing technical and scientific input on virology, transmission and testing for SARS-CoV-2, contributing to national public health policy. Her work on duration of infectiousness directly informed UK isolation policy. She also provided some of the first evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between vaccinated people in UK households, contributing extensively to media interest around these findings. She co-authored a Technical Report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK for the Chief Medical Officer.
Publications
Journals
Derqui N, Koycheva A, Zhou J, et al., 2023, Risk factors and vectors for SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study., Lancet Microbe
Zhou J, Singanayagam A, Goonawardane N, et al., 2023, Viral emissions into the air and environment after SARS-CoV-2 human challenge: a phase 1, open label, first-in-human study, The Lancet Microbe, ISSN:2666-5247
Hakki S, Zhou J, Jonnerby J, et al., 2022, Onset and window of SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness and temporal correlation with symptom onset: a prospective, longitudinal, community cohort study, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:10, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:1061-1073
Houston H, Hakki S, Pillay TD, et al., 2022, Broadening symptom criteria improves early case identification in SARS-CoV-2 contacts, European Respiratory Journal, Vol:60, ISSN:0903-1936, Pages:1-13
Deeks JJ, Singanayagam A, Houston H, et al., 2022, SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow tests for detecting infectious people: linked data analysis, Bmj-british Medical Journal, Vol:376, ISSN:0959-535X