Professor Munir Iqbal is the Head of the Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease group at The Pirbright Institute and a visiting Professor at the Royal Veterinary College, London. Munir obtained Veterinary Medicine and MPhil degrees in Pakistan and a PhD in Biotechnology at Imperial College, London, in 1991. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool and the University of St Andrews before joining the Institute in 1996. Currently, he is leading several research projects aimed at defining the impact of genetic changes on the ability of avian influenza and Newcastle disease viruses to evade immune responses, cause increased disease severity, and allow cross-species transmission. Along with unravelling the host factors that determine avian-origin influenza virus replication fitness in
mammalian species. He is also leading the development of new multivalent vaccines and diagnostics for better control of avian respiratory viruses like avian influenza, Newcastle disease, avian adenovirus, and avian metapneumoviruses.
