Rate My Professor Carol Hartley

Carol Hartley is Associate Professor of Veterinary Virology in the Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Melbourne. She holds a PhD and her research centers on veterinary virology, with particular emphasis on herpesviruses and virus-host interactions. Hartley investigates the mechanisms of viral pathogenesis, virus evolution, and host immune responses to infection, focusing on alphaherpesviruses that have co-evolved with their hosts for millions of years. Her work examines how these viruses adapt to new host environments through small incremental changes, such as infecting vaccinated hosts following unvaccinated ones, or major jumps to entirely new species. She analyzes the impact of these adaptations on virus virulence, pathogenesis, and vaccine efficacy to inform vaccination strategies for improved control in poultry, horses, and wildlife. Employing methodologies including genomics and high-performance microscopy, she explores diverse virus-host systems to enhance animal health outcomes or model human infections and diseases. As coordinator of the graduate subject Veterinary Virology (VETS90130), she teaches principles of viral pathogens in animals, host-pathogen interactions, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and control strategies.

Hartley is a member of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Animal Health and the Centre for Equine Infectious Disease at the Melbourne Veterinary School. Her career at the University of Melbourne spans decades, with contributions to projects such as Pathogenesis and Latency of Equine Gammaherpesviruses (2018-2019), Linking Immunomodulation and Latency in Alphaherpesvirus Infection, and Equine Rhinitis A Virus: Molecular Pathogenesis and Methods for Control. Key publications include 'ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Herpesviridae 2021' (Journal of General Virology, 2021), 'Attenuated vaccines can recombine to form virulent field viruses' (Science, 2012), 'Bovine and mouse serum beta inhibitors of influenza A viruses are mannose-binding lectins' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1990), 'Surfactant protein A binds to the fusion glycoprotein of respiratory syncytial virus and neutralizes virion infectivity' (Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1999), 'Glycoprotein G is a virulence factor in infectious laryngotracheitis virus' (Journal of General Virology, 2006), and 'Identification of equine herpesvirus 3, equine gammaherpesviruses 2 and 5, equine adenoviruses 1 and 2, equine arteritis virus and equine rhinitis A and B viruses in horse plasma by real-time PCR' (Australian Veterinary Journal, 2001). Her research has advanced understanding of herpesvirus taxonomy, vaccine recombination risks, and innate antiviral defenses, evidenced by high citation impacts in veterinary microbiology and virology.