British biologist (born 1965)
Edward Charles Holmes
FRS
FAA
[6] (born 26 February 1965)
[2] is a British evolutionary biologist and virologist. Since 2012, he has been a fellow of the
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia and professor at the
University of Sydney .
[4]
[7]
[8] He was an honorary visiting professor at
Fudan University in Shanghai, China, from 2019-2021.
[9]
Education
Holmes was educated at
University College London where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in
Anthropology in 1986.
[2] He then moved to the
University of Cambridge where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in
Zoology in 1990
[10]
[2] for research on
molecular evolution in
primates supervised by Adrian Friday.
[2]
Research and career
Holmes has used
genomic and
phylogenetic approaches to reveal the major mechanisms of
virus evolution and determined the genetic and epidemiological processes that explain how viruses jump species boundaries and spread in new hosts.
[6] His work has revealed the origin, evolution and molecular
epidemiology of important
human pathogens including
Hepatitis C ,
[11]
[12]
influenza ,
[13]
[14] HIV
[15] and
dengue ,
[16] and enabled more accurate assessments of what types of virus are most likely to emerge in human populations and whether they will evolve human-to-human transmission.
[6] His recent research has provided fundamental insights into the breadth and
biodiversity of the viral world.
[6]
Holmes wrote The Evolution and Emergence of RNA Viruses
[17] part of the Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution edited by
Paul H. Harvey and
Robert M. May . He also co-authored the textbook Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach with
Rod Page .
[5] Since 1994 he has supervised 31 graduate students.
[2]
SARS-CoV-2
Holmes co-authored the publication of the genome sequence of
SARS-CoV-2
[18]
[19] and the early descriptions of the disease, working with
Zhang Yongzhen from
Fudan University to share the first sequencing data from the virus.
[20] Holmes has figured prominently in commentary surrounding its origins. In March 2020, he co-authored a letter titled The proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2 , published in
Nature Medicine ,
[21] which examined the mutations in the receptor-binding domain and furin cleavage site, and concluded that the virus sequence did not appear to be engineered.
[22]
[23] He co-authored a more-detailed review article in Cell.
[24]
The
University of Sydney published a statement by Holmes in April that stated, "There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans, originated in a laboratory in
Wuhan , China" , and that all evidence points towards its origin in an animal species.
[25] These views were reported in the
Financial Times in May 2020.
[26]
Institutional affiliations
Before moving to Sydney in 2012, Holmes held academic appointments at various universities in the UK and USA including:
His research has been funded by the
Royal Society ,
[6] the UK
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Canadian
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC),
Rhodes Trust ,
Wellcome Trust , United States
National Institutes of Health (NIH),
National Science Foundation (NSF),
Australian Research Council , and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
[2]
[1]
[27]
Awards and honours
Holmes was elected a
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in 2015 and a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017.
[6] In 2017 he was awarded an
Australian Laureate Fellowship .
[3] He was awarded the
Scientific Medal, Zoological Society of London in 2003.
[2] In October 2020 Holmes was named NSW Scientist of the Year.
[28] In January 2021 he was jointly awarded the General Symbiont prize as an exemplar in the practice of data sharing at the
Research Symbiont Awards alongside
Zhang Yongzhen for sharing the first
SARSCov2 genome.
[29] In November 2021 he was awarded the
Prime Minister's Prize for Science .
[30]
He was the recipient of the 2024
Croonian Medal and Lecture, awarded by the
Royal Society .
[31]
Personal life
Holmes lists his recreations as
Whale Beach, New South Wales , electric guitars, and
Aston Villa Football Club .
[32]
See also
References
^
a
b
c
d Edward C. Holmes
ORCID
0000-0001-9596-3552
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o Holmes, Eddie (2020).
"Edward C. Holmes – Curriculum Vitae" . profiles.sydney.edu.au . University of Sydney. Archived from
the original on 8 August 2017.
^
a
b
"Fellowships and training centres accelerate research capacity" .
University of Sydney . 5 June 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018 .
^
a
b
Edward C. Holmes publications indexed by
Google Scholar
^
a
b Page, Roderic D. M.; Holmes, Edward C. (1998). Molecular evolution : a phylogenetic approach . Oxford:
Blackwell Science .
ISBN
9780865428898 .
OCLC
47011609 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Edward Holmes" . RoyalSociety.org . London:
Royal Society . 2017. Archived from
the original on 11 May 2017. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ." --
"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies" . Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link )
^
Edward C. Holmes publications indexed by the
Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
^
Edward C. Holmes publications from
Europe PubMed Central
^
"Staff Profile" . The University of Sydney . Retrieved 9 July 2021 .
^ Holmes, Edward Charles (1989). Pattern and process in the molecular evolution of the order primates (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
OCLC
53489363 .
EThOS
uk.bl.ethos.317751
ProQuest
1771542055 .
^
a
b Simmonds, Peter; Alberti, Alfredo; Alter, Harvey J.; Bonino, Ferruccio; Bradley, Daniel W.; Brechot, Christian; Brouwer, Johannes T.; Chan, Shiu-Wan; Chayama, Kazuaki;
Chen, Ding-Shinn ; Choo, Qui-Lim; Colombo, Massimo; Cuypers, H. Theo M.; Date, Takayasu; Dusheiko, Geoff M.; Esteban, Juan I.; Fay, Oscar; Hadziyannis, S. J.; Han, Jang; Hatzakis, Angelos; Holmes, Eddie C.; Hotta, Hak; Houghton, Michael; Irvine, Bruce; Kohara, Michinori; Kolberg, Janice A.; Kuo, George; Lau, Johnson Y. N.; Lelie, P. Nico; Maertens, Geert; McOmish, Fiona; Miyamura, Tatsuo; Mizokami, Masashi; Nomoto, Akio; Prince, Alfred M.; Reesink, Henk W.; Rice, Charlie; Roggendorf, Michael; Schalm, Solko W.; Shikata, Toshio; Shimotohno, Kunitada; Stuyver, Lieven; Trépo, Christian; Weiner, Amy; Yap, Peng L.; Urdea, Mickey S. (1994). "A proposed system for the nomenclature of hepatitis C viral genotypes". Hepatology . 19 (5): 1321–1324.
doi :
10.1002/hep.1840190538 .
ISSN
0270-9139 .
PMID
8175159 .
S2CID
1573464 .
^ Simmonds, P.; Irvine, B.; Yap, P. L.; Kolberg, J.; Chan, S.-W.; Cha, T.-A.; Beall, E.; Urdea, M. S.; Holmes, E. C.; McOmish, F. (1993).
"Classification of hepatitis C virus into six major genotypes and a series of subtypes by phylogenetic analysis of the NS-5 region" .
Journal of General Virology . 74 (11): 2391–2399.
doi :
10.1099/0022-1317-74-11-2391 .
ISSN
0022-1317 .
PMID
8245854 .
^ Subbarao, Kanta; Tong, Suxiang; Zhu, Xueyong; Li, Yan; Shi, Mang; Zhang, Jing; Bourgeois, Melissa; Yang, Hua; Chen, Xianfeng; Recuenco, Sergio; Gomez, Jorge; Chen, Li-Mei; Johnson, Adam; Tao, Ying; Dreyfus, Cyrille; Yu, Wenli; McBride, Ryan; Carney, Paul J.; Gilbert, Amy T.; Chang, Jessie; Guo, Zhu; Davis, Charles T.; Paulson, James C.; Stevens, James; Rupprecht, Charles E.; Holmes, Edward C.; Wilson, Ian A.; Donis, Ruben O. (2013).
"New World Bats Harbor Diverse Influenza A Viruses" .
PLOS Pathogens . 9 (10): e1003657.
doi :
10.1371/journal.ppat.1003657 .
ISSN
1553-7374 .
PMC
3794996 .
PMID
24130481 .
^ Rambaut, Andrew; Pybus, Oliver G.; Nelson, Martha I.;
Viboud, Cecile ; Taubenberger, Jeffery K.; Holmes, Edward C. (2008).
"The genomic and epidemiological dynamics of human influenza A virus" .
Nature . 453 (7195): 615–619.
Bibcode :
2008Natur.453..615R .
doi :
10.1038/nature06945 .
PMC
2441973 .
PMID
18418375 .
^ Leslie, A J; Pfafferott, K J; Chetty, P; Draenert, R; Addo, M M; Feeney, M; Tang, Y; Holmes, E C; Allen, T; Prado, J G; Altfeld, M; Brander, C; Dixon, C; Ramduth, D; Jeena, P; Thomas, S A; John, A St; Roach, T A; Kupfer, B; Luzzi, G; Edwards, A; Taylor, G; Lyall, H; Tudor-Williams, G; Novelli, V; Martinez-Picado, J; Kiepiela, P; Walker, B D; Goulder, P J R (2004). "HIV evolution: CTL escape mutation and reversion after transmission".
Nature Medicine . 10 (3): 282–289.
doi :
10.1038/nm992 .
ISSN
1078-8956 .
PMID
14770175 .
S2CID
28756735 .
^ Holmes, E; Twiddy, S (2003). "The origin, emergence and evolutionary genetics of dengue virus". Infection, Genetics and Evolution . 3 (1): 19–28.
doi :
10.1016/S1567-1348(03)00004-2 .
ISSN
1567-1348 .
PMID
12797969 . (subscription required)
^ Holmes, Edward C. (2009).
The Evolution and Emergence of RNA Viruses . Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution. Oxford, New York:
Oxford University Press .
ISBN
9780199211135 .
^ Lu, Roujian; Zhao, Xiang; Li, Juan; Niu, Peihua; Yang, Bo; Wu, Honglong; Wang, Wenling; Song, Hao; Huang, Baoying; Zhu, Na; Bi, Yuhai; Ma, Xuejun; Zhan, Faxian; Wang, Liang; Hu, Tao; Zhou, Hong; Hu, Zhenhong; Zhou, Weimin; Zhao, Li; Chen, Jing; Meng, Yao; Wang, Ji; Lin, Yang; Yuan, Jianying; Xie, Zhihao; Ma, Jinmin; Liu, William J; Wang, Dayan; Xu, Wenbo; Holmes, Edward C; Gao, George F; Wu, Guizhen; Chen, Weijun; Shi, Weifeng; Tan, Wenjie (2020).
"Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding" . The Lancet . 395 (10224): 565–574.
doi :
10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8 .
ISSN
0140-6736 .
PMC
7159086 .
PMID
32007145 .
^
Zhang, Yong-Zhen ; Holmes, Edward C. (2020).
"A Genomic Perspective on the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2" . Cell . 181 (2): 223–227.
doi :
10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.035 .
ISSN
0092-8674 .
PMC
7194821 .
PMID
32220310 .
^ Wu, Fan; Zhao, Su; Yu, Bin; Chen, Yan-Mei; Wang, Wen; Song, Zhi-Gang; Hu, Yi; Tao, Zhao-Wu; Tian, Jun-Hua; Pei, Yuan-Yuan; Yuan, Ming-Li; Zhang, Yu-Ling; Dai, Fa-Hui; Liu, Yi; Wang, Qi-Min; Zheng, Jiao-Jiao; Xu, Lin; Holmes, Edward C.;
Zhang, Yong-Zhen (2020).
"A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China" . Nature . 579 (7798): 265–269.
Bibcode :
2020Natur.579..265W .
doi :
10.1038/s41586-020-2008-3 .
ISSN
0028-0836 .
PMC
7094943 .
PMID
32015508 .
^ Andersen, Kristian G.;
Rambaut, Andrew ;
Lipkin, W. Ian ; Holmes, Edward C.; Garry, Robert F. (2020).
"The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" . Nature Medicine . 26 (4): 450–452.
doi :
10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9 .
ISSN
1078-8956 .
PMC
7095063 .
PMID
32284615 .
^ Spinney, Laura (28 March 2020).
"Is factory farming to blame for coronavirus?" . the Guardian . Retrieved 1 November 2020 .
^ Mannix, Liam (24 April 2020).
"Coronavirus Australia: Scientists dispel theory COVID-19 escaped from lab" . The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2020 .
^ Holmes EC; et al. (16 September 2021).
"The origins of SARS-CoV-2: A critical review" . Cell . 184 (19): 4848–4856.
doi :
10.1016/j.cell.2021.08.017 .
PMC
8373617 .
PMID
34480864 .
^
Holmes, Edward (16 April 2020).
"Statement from Professor Edward Holmes on the SARS-CoV-2 virus: On the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19" .
The University of Sydney . Retrieved 1 November 2020 .
^ Weinland, Don; Manson, Katrina (5 May 2020).
"How a Wuhan lab became embroiled in a global coronavirus blame game" . Financial Times . Retrieved 1 November 2020 .
^
"Professor Holmes driven by the pursuit of scientific truth" . The University of Sydney . Retrieved 15 September 2020 .
^ Aubusson, Kate (26 October 2020).
"Virus rebel Professor Edward Holmes named NSW Scientist of the Year" . The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 26 October 2020 .
^
"The Research Symbiont Awards" . ResearchSymbionts.org . 8 January 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021 .
^
"Prime Minister's Prizes for Science 2021" . Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources . 3 November 2021.
Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021 .
^
"Croonian Medal and Lecture winner 2024" . 20 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023 .
^ Fallon, Bailey (2015).
"Meet our Editors: An interview with Edward Holmes" . blogs.royalsociety.org . Archived from
the original on 19 November 2016.
International National Academics Other