Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK university teaching qualification)

Ph.D. in Biology, Imperial College London, UK

M.Sc. in Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology, London, UK

M.Sc. in Zoology, University of Manchester, UK

B.Sc. in Zoology, University of Manchester, UK

2022 – 2025 Professor of Biology, American University of Iraq – Baghdad

2020 – 2022 Assistant Professor in Biology, College of Science and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, China

2013 – 2019 Associate Professor (Reader) in Genomics, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Plymouth

2007 – 2012 Departmental Lecturer in Biology of Disease, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford

2005 – 2007 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford

1994 – 2005 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Imperial College London

1991 – 1993 Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, Natural History Museum, London

1988 – 1991 Royal Entomological Society Research Fellow, Natural History Museum, London

Robert Belshaw began his career as an entomologist at the Natural History Museum in London. At Imperial College London, he was one of the first researchers to use DNA sequencing for building phylogenetic trees to reconstruct past evolutionary changes. Following the publication of the human genome sequence in 2001, he taught himself computer programming to investigate human endogenous retroviruses. These viruses proliferate by integration into their host's germline and make up 5% of the 3 billion nucleotide-long human genome sequence. He continued this work at the University of Oxford, where he also taught infectious disease biology and tutored students at Worcester and Brasenose Colleges. More recently, he has taught genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Plymouth in the UK, and general biology at The American University of Iraq – Baghdad.

Dr Belshaw's work on endogenous retroviruses began with computer analyses to determine the factors that control their proliferation within host genomes, and whether they continue to replicate in the modern human population. With advances in molecular biology allowing us to determine causal links in complex disease, he has collaborated with laboratory experimentalists on the possible role of these viruses in our immune system and in cancer. The aim is to exploit the observation that viral protein expression is upregulated in many cancers and develop a broad-spectrum anticancer immunotherapy.

BIO1000

BIO1300

STME5103

1. Maze EA, Agit B, Reeves S, Hilton DA, Parkinson DB, Laraba L, Ercolano E, Kurian KM, Hanemann CO, Belshaw R* & Ammoun S (2022) Human endogenous retrovirus type K promotes proliferation and confers sensitivity to anti-retroviral drugs in Merlin-negative schwannoma and meningioma. Cancer Res. 82: 235-247 *Co-corresponding author IF = 12.7 PubMed

2. Marchi E, Kanapin A, Magiorkinis G & Belshaw R (2014) Unfixed endogenous retroviral insertions in the human population. J Virol 88: 9529-37. IF = 4.5 PubMed

3. Marchi E, Kanapin A, Byott M, Magiorkinis G & Belshaw R (2013) Neandertal and Denisovan retroviruses in modern humans. Curr Biol 23: R994-5. IF = 10.8 PubMed

4. Magiorkinis G, Gifford RJ, Katzourakis A, De Ranter J & Belshaw R (2012) Env-less endogenous retroviruses are genomic superspreaders. PNAS 109: 7385-90. IF = 11.2 PubMed

5. Sanjuán R, Nebot MR, Chirico N, Mansky LM & Belshaw R (2010) Viral mutation rates. J Virol 84: 9733-48. IF = 4.5 PubMed

6. Belshaw R, Pereira V, Katzourakis A, Talbot G, Paces J, Burt A & Tristem M (2004) Long-term re-infection of the human genome by endogenous retroviruses. PNAS 101: 4894-9. IF = 11.2 PubMed

1. Belshaw R (1993) Tachinid flies (Diptera: Tachinidae). Royal Entomological Society of London. 169pp.

2. Belshaw R (1994) Life history characteristics of Tachinidae (Diptera) and their effect on polyphagy. In: Parasitoid Community Ecology (B.A. Hawkins & W. Sheehan, eds) pp. 145-62. Oxford University Press.

2020 Project Lead, Wenzhou-Kean University, Internal Research Support Program: ‘Does the pangolin have infectious endogenous retroviruses?’ RMB 96,000.

2018 Project Lead, University of Plymouth Medical School education award: 'OncoWiki: an interactive approach to teaching cancer genomics'. £5,000

2017 Participant, EU Horizon 2020 project: 'Integrated platform for brain cancer diagnostic techniques (AiPBAND)'. €3,700,000

2016 Co-Investigator, charity Action Medical Research grant: 'The role of endogenous retroviral proteins in the development of Merlin-deficient tumours and their as potential as drug and immunotherapy targets'. £65,000

2016 Project Lead, University of Plymouth PedRIO (Pedagogic Research and Teaching Innovation Fund) award: 'From OncoSim to OncoWiki: evaluating OncoSim's educational effectiveness'. £8,500

2014 Co-Investigator, charity Action on Hearing Loss grant: 'Endogenous Retroviral proteins as potential immunotherapy and/or drug targets for Merlin-deficient tumours'. £5,000

2009 Principal Investigator, Wellcome Trust project grant: 'The evolution and present day activity of Endogenous Retroviruses'. £383,000