Dr Catherine Riou

Division of Medical Virology

Affiliations

  1. Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
  2. Honorary Research Associate, Division of Medical Virology, Department of Pathology
  3. Contributing investigator to the Wellcome Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa)
  4. European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Senior Fellow

Key Expertise

Covid-19, HIV, T-and B-cell Immunology, TB

Main Research Focus

Catherine Riou is an infectious disease immunologist. Her research interests include the investigation of:

1) Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific T-cell responses across the spectrum of tuberculosis infection.

2) The impact of HIV-co-infection on host immune response against Mtb.

3) SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses in the context of natural infection and vaccination.

Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024

Post-pandemic memory T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is durable, broadly targeted, and cross-reactive to the hypermutated BA.2.86 variant.

Nesamari R, Omondi MA, Baguma R, Höft MA, Ngomti A, Nkayi AA, Besethi AS, Magugu SFJ, Mosala P, Walters A, Clark GM, Mennen M, Skelem S, Adriaanse M, Grifoni A, Sette A, Keeton RS, Ntusi NAB, Riou C*, Burgers WA* (*Co last author)


Ongoing SARS-CoV-2 evolution has given rise to recombinant Omicron lineages including XBB.1, as well as the hypermutated variants, BA.2.86. In this context, durable and cross-reactive T cell immune memory is critical for continued protection against severe COVID-19. Our data show that Spike-specific T cells are highly cross-reactive with all Omicron variants tested, including BA.2.86. Abundant nucleocapsid and membrane-specific T cells are detectable in most participants. Overall, hybrid immunity leads to the accumulation of spike and non-spike T cells evident 3.5 years after the start of the pandemic, with preserved recognition of highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 variants.