You Are Part Virus: How Biological Viruses Hack Cells (emf2026)

Molecular biology is cool,* and often the most interesting way to study a system is to see where it fails or how it gets hacked. Viruses enter, subvert and exploit the finely tuned molecular machinery of cells, rewiring systems to convert them into a virus factory; over a few billion years of a co-evolutionary arms race, they’ve developed some great exploits. Some are elegant and clever, some are messy but impressively functional, a few are just baffling. A lot like the folks at EMF. Using a few of my favourite viruses as case studies, we’ll build a simple mental model of how cells work and then break it. We’ll see how viruses cram surprising amounts of information into tiny genomes by overlapping their code, how they hijack the cell’s machinery to take control of its internal processes, and how they defy biology’s “central dogma”. Finally, I’ll describe the viruses that have inserted themselves into the human genome, becoming permanent and functional parts of our own DNA. This is a fast, accessible introduction to a few fun corners of molecular biology and virology, from someone who has spent their career studying and working with viruses. No biology background is needed. If you like learning about intricate systems and the strange ways they can be exploited, you’ll find plenty to enjoy in virology. *For, admittedly, idiosyncratic definitions of “cool” Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/149-you-are-part-virus-how-biological-viruses-hack-cells