SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY
Another month begins. St Bridget’s Day. I always feel winter is starting to yield when we get to February. I think I can see the tips of buds on the trees just outside the front door getting a bit sticky. Weather still red raw though.
Saw in the news that several landmark buildings in the United Arab Emirates were illuminated on Sunday night to show support for Wuhan and Chinese communities around the world. This was to recognise the suffering they’ve been going through. Nice gesture.
WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY
A lot of teaching this week. Lectures to final-year immunologists and biochemists. I give my usual cytokines lectures. I really enjoyed giving these – you can’t beat cytokines! These are the proteins that control every aspect of the immune response in our bodies. I’ve been working on them since 1985, when not many were known. There are now hundreds of them. I tell the students how blocking them can really work in some inflammatory diseases. Such a complex business. All the acronyms must drive the students mad: JAK, STAT, SOCS, NF-kappa B, MYD88, MAL (the one I named, yay!), TRAM, TRIF. Like a whole new language. Always mention how knowing this stuff might help us get new therapies for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. It’s striking how many new medicines have come from the world of cytokines.
Met with Trinity’s technology transfer office in the Science Gallery café to talk about Inflazome. Gave them an update on how things had gone in San Francisco and how you never know, we might be bought and Trinity, as a shareholder in the company, might make some money! Very long shot – but you never know. I could tell by the way they looked at me that they could sense something in what I told them.
THURSDAY 6 FEBRUARY
Today’s Pat Kenny show was in front of a live audience, broadcast from the Cliff House restaurant on St Stephen’s Green. A sponsor, I guess. I discussed the latest science on why we go grey. It turns out that cells in our scalp makes a natural type of bleach, which makes our hair go grey. Most of the audience were grey, like me and Pat, so I told them all we’re all in the same grey-headed club and they laughed.
Didn’t talk about coronavirus even though the US reported its first death today – a woman died of myocarditis (heart inflammation) caused by the coronavirus. The WHO have also said that there are no known therapeutics or drugs that are effective against the virus. This is to counter a lot of reports on possible therapies working, with the WHO saying they don’t work. It seems all kinds of snake-oil salesmen are coming out of the woodwork. I suspect there will be a lot more of this kind of thing.
Went for my usual slot on The Six O’Clock Show with Muireann and Martin. (I’ve been on a few times. The first time I was on I plugged my previous book Humanology when, during the interview on the science of attraction, I asked Muireann if she was ovulating. Deirdre O’Kane, who was also a guest that time, found this very funny. Later we were in the kitchen, standing around chef Kevin Dundon as he poured hot chocolate sauce over a sponge cake. Deirdre shouted, ‘Jaysus, I’ve just ovulated!’)
We talked about how optimism is good for your immune system, and how to stay optimistic in these wintry days and we always have a laugh or two. Badly needed in these dark days of February! After the show I got a taxi into the city centre, where the science students in Trinity asked me to be the MC for a fundraiser quiz in J.W. Sweetman’s pub. It was packed to the rafters, everyone shouting and roaring. Myself and two colleagues, Emma Creagh and Áine Kelly, shared out the questions. Then they handed me a guitar to play songs for the music round. What am I, a performing seal? Didn’t mind at all, of course. Great to see the students doing this kind of thing, kicking back a bit and enjoying themselves.
SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY
Guest of honour at the Irish Science Teachers’ Association annual dinner. I am the incoming president. The outgoing president is weatherman Ger Fleming. He was supposed to come along and hand the chain of office over to me, but two things happened on the way to the dinner. First, he was called away to some weather emergency in Eastern Europe; and then, while he was away, the ceremonial chain was stolen from his house. An inauspicious start to my term of office.
I made an after-dinner speech and told them the story of how I had met up again with my old biology teacher from Bray. I’d been on the radio last summer, interviewed by Keelin Shanley. It was a great interview as I was very fond of Keelin. She had a degree in biochemistry from Trinity, so we chatted about the science of what I’m doing in the lab. She asked me how I’d got into biology, and I mentioned my old teacher Fran Mooney. He’d really inspired us all – in fact, I can still remember the day he told us about DNA.
A week or so later I got a letter from him to thank me for mentioning him. He said he might turn up at my next public lecture. And lo and behold, he did. It was in the Smock Alley Theatre. He came up to me at the end and I put my hand out. He grabbed me and gave me a big hug. As we separated he said, ‘Er, I don’t remember you.’ Thanks, Fran. We’re blessed in Ireland with our cohort of science teachers who make a huge difference. It’s one reason why Ireland does well when it comes to overall scientific literacy. Long may it continue and to hell with the begrudgers!
TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY
Dinner for the board of Inflazome after the first board meeting of the year. I love meeting the investors and board members who are, more often than not, scientists themselves. They come to Dublin from Europe and the US and it’s great to chat to them, not just about Inflazome, but other things they are working on. They are very smart people – often have medical degrees, PhDs, MBAs. I guess they have to, as they are handling so much money! We had a delicious dinner in the Marker Hotel. Lots of good wine. This is standard – a reward for all the hard work, but also a chance to relax and talk issues through in a more convivial setting, which can help the business side no end. Ended up in the bar after as Dhaval, who is a key board member, formerly of Novartis, loves Irish whiskey. Great chat about possible future companies.
News on this coronavirus continues to emerge from China, and we spoke a bit about that. Dhaval said it looks a bit more serious with Wuhan going into quarantine. But we all agreed that hopefully, like SARS, it will be contained. No sign from what I can tell that it’s any worse.
And the virus has a name! The WHO have named it SARS-CoV2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2). Because it’s a close relative of SARS, which has been renamed SARS-CoV1. It must have been like that after World War Two, when the Great War was renamed World War One. And the disease it causes has been named Coronavirus Disease-19 or COVID-19, with 19 because that’s the year it started. I’ll bet people get that mixed up – they’ll think its virus number 19. Still, at least we have a name for the virus and disease now.
WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY
Went to Keelin Shanley’s funeral today. Huge crowd. She was so well loved. Strange I remembered her the other day at the science teachers’ dinner. Had a brief chat with her dad, Derry – knew him from Trinity when he was Dean of the Dental School. He said how I had given Keelin comfort, which I wasn’t aware of. I’d met her a few months back for a drink in Fitzgerald’s when she gave me an update on the experimental treatment she’d been getting at the NIH for her breast cancer. I’d told her how I had lost my own mother at 17 to breast cancer. She said it gave her hope for her own teenage children. Good Lord, it can be a tough old business, this life. I won’t forget Keelin.
THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY
Pat and I had our first big chat about COVID-19. I explained the difference between SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19, and I said one was the name of the virus and the other the name of the disease, like HIV and AIDS. We talked about whether it can be contained in China.
A good day in the lab today: Z’s paper got accepted for publication in Nature Communications. A very good journal. It was a long journey and I’m happy for Z as he showed such perseverance with it, dealing with lots of criticisms from editors and reviewers, but we won in the end. This happens. People don’t realise how tough it can be on scientists. It’s an important paper about a protein called caspase-4, which we implicated for the first time in asthma. This might stimulate drug companies to go after caspase-4. We raised a few glasses to celebrate, as per usual.
Outbreak on a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess currently in Japan. There have been 218 cases – what is called a high attack rate. It’s worrying because it confirms that COVID-19 is highly contagious. An 80-year-old passenger got off the ship in Hong Kong on 25 January. He began to feel unwell and six days later he was admitted to hospital, where he tested positive for COVID-19. They then tested everyone on board and registered all those positives. The ship was put into quarantine in Yokohama on 4 February and it’s still there.
SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY
I submitted Never Mind to Gill today. I made lots of back-ups, because imagine if I or they somehow lost it? 80,000 words would have to be rewritten. Even put it on a memory stick for good measure. I read bits of it randomly and still liked it, so I guess that’s what’s important. Satisfaction.
I also gave my first ever online lecture to a big audience organised by Eleanor Fish, the eminent virologist. She said the idea is to allow as many people as possible to attend. Strange experience, talking into my computer screen with no audience reaction. Can’t imagine this being the future. We’re social creatures.
SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY
On the Brendan O’Connor Show on RTÉ Radio One. I am a big fan of Brendan’s. We have the same sense of humour, I think, and I remember his one and only hit single ‘Who’s in the House? Jesus in the House!’ He’d heard me on Pat Kenny talking about COVID-19 and wanted a quick chat. We also spoke about going grey, as I had a short piece in the Sunday Independent on that. Brendan seemed more worried about that than COVID-19! Strange enough in that I was a big fan of Marian Finucane, who sadly passed away and who Brendan replaced. I’d also thought it would be great to be interviewed by her. It wasn’t to be, and yet there I was on with Brendan.
Hosted a small meeting in Trinity of immunologists, who came over to discuss projects in the area of immunometabolism in my other company, Sitryx, which is developing new drugs that target metabolism in the immune system as another way to treat inflammatory diseases. We went through some of the projects. Such a productive day.
Over dinner though, all we talked about was COVID-19. I took them to the Ginger Man pub and asked them all, just how serious is this going to be? Jon Powell from Johns Hopkins said cases are going up exponentially in China and nearby countries. Doreen Cantrell from Dundee said the medics in her university are getting concerned as they know that if it was to come to the UK, the hospital system couldn’t cope. Haven’t seen anything quite like this, where someone says something, we are all silent and then someone else says, ‘Can you repeat that?’ A part of me doesn’t believe any of it. Or perhaps what I’m actually feeling is, I don’t want that to be the case. There was definitely a sense of foreboding in the air tonight. We couldn’t change the topic of conversation.
FRIDAY 21 FEBRUARY
Well, a most unusual day. I went to my old hometown of Bray today to give a talk on my Great Irish Science Book. Linda came down from Sligo for it. Great seeing her again – she did such fantastic drawings for it. We did a few demos for the kids. The book has gone down a storm: over 20,000 copies sold and great feedback. Someone came up to me to give out: they can’t get their son to go to school in the morning because all he wants is to read the book!
Had some pints. I wondered would people ask about COVID-19 but no one did. Is it only me who’s worried? Taxi to Dalkey for the St Patrick’s Parish quiz night. The excellent host Gary German always gets a question in for which the answer is the Neil Diamond song ‘Sweet Caroline’ and then leads us all in a rousing, roof-raising chorus. We didn’t win. I blame the Guinness …
MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY
On Claire Byrne Live tonight. We talked about COVID-19 and she got me to show people how to wash their hands. This has become a clear instruction from NPHET. Other respiratory viruses are spread from contaminated surfaces, so the risk with this one and others is that you’ll touch a surface, then at some point put your hand up to your nose or mouth and infect yourself.
There haven’t been any cases in Ireland yet, but even so we’re being told to keep our distance and wash our hands. I explained how soapy water and suds can kill the virus. I said how it dissolves the fatty bag that contains the genetic material for the virus – the RNA. I suspect it’s the first time RNA has been mentioned on the show. Can it be that simple? If it comes here, and here’s hoping it won’t, will that keep it at bay? Keeping our distance is called ‘social distancing’. A new term to learn. Social distancing and hand washing as the two main weapons against COVID-19: can it really be that easy?
TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY
Two things always come in to mind on 25 February. The first is that this is the day my mother died, 38 years ago. The second is that it’s George Harrison’s birthday. Mind you, he’s dead too. Very cheery …
Gave a talk in St Joseph of Cluny girls’ school at the behest of Kathy in my lab, whose daughter goes there. I asked them at one point to name a virus and they all shouted ‘coronavirus’! Went back into Trinity and signed some documents to release a lot of funding into Inflazome. The power I have as director! This will allow us to press ahead with our plans in the coming months.
WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY
In London to speak at a Trinity UK alumni gathering. My flight back to Dublin from Heathrow was delayed by two hours so I began working on my next column for the Sunday Independent. Found a quiet spot in a bar and got stuck in. I had prepared a piece about how rock bands are increasingly trying to go ‘green’ with carbon-neutral tours but then I thought, no – I’ll write about SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19. I’ll keep the green rock concerts one in reserve for the next time.
Writing about COVID-19 made me realise it could get bad. Shit. I did a lot of research. In China they have shut down cities, cancelled weddings, closed schools. I got the science in, saying how viruses were first seen in 1948 with an electron microscope. How SARS-CoV2 gets into our lungs via a key-and-lock mechanism – the key is the spike protein and the lock is called ACE2. I explained how, once the virus is inside, it acts like an unwanted guest who goes to your fridge, eats your food then goes to your spare room to have sex, making lots of little viruses. They then leave but blow up your house as they do so, irritating your lungs terribly. You then cough the virus out in droplets so it’s important to wear a mask when you have symptoms, as recommended by the WHO.
I tried to reassure people though, reminding them that they have an immune system to protect them. I even mentioned antibodies and cytokines – I hope that’s not too technical. And I’ve reminded them that there are already efforts to get a vaccine, and also treatments for those who get sick. I didn’t tell them it can take years to make a vaccine. Or that we’ve failed to get treatments for other respiratory diseases. But we can hope. In the meantime, I’ve told them to call their GP if they’re sick, isolate themselves, keep surfaces clean, wash their hands. I’ve told them to keep calm, remain vigilant and wait it out. I’ve said that this too will pass, just like SARS did. I hope so.
Also, a big announcement today. The rugby match against Italy scheduled for 7 March will be postponed. Things must be getting serious if they’re postponing a rugby match.
FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY
On the way into the lab this morning my phone goes on the Dart. It’s The Late Late Show! They’ve asked me to go on tonight.
Stevie, my older son, told me he’s been accepted into Cambridge to do a PhD in chemistry. My boy! So proud of him. Tremendous but a little bittersweet. How will he get on? It’s a funny business, this parenting. You want the best for them and then you worry about them every step of the way. My thoughts turned to him as a little boy and how I used to bring him to school on my bike. He sat on a seat on the crossbar and when it was cold, he would put his hands over mine to keep them warm. And now … all grown up and heading to Cambridge.
The Late Late Show was interesting. I wasn’t too nervous – too long in the tooth for that. But I felt a sense of responsibility to all the people who would be tuning in. In the green room I met big Niall Quinn. He’s nearly as tall as I am! Another guest on the show handed me her phone and said, here’s my husband, he wants to talk to you. It was John Jackson, who I had first met back in 1991 when I came back to Ireland from Cambridge. He was one of the few immunologists in the country at that time. Tonight he called to wish me luck. ‘You’re about to be the first immunologist on The Late Late Show!’ he said. I sat opposite Ryan, with the audience in front of us. We talked about masks. The WHO advice was only to wear them if you had symptoms: they would trap the droplets and stop the spread. The key thing was travel: don’t go to China. He thanked me for calming people down.
Back in the green room, someone said I should have said we should all start wearing masks, like they are doing in China. I said that wasn’t the recommendation, but that I’d look into it.
On the way home in the taxi I read on Twitter that the WHO raised the COVID-19 alert to the highest level. Gulp. I wonder would that have changed my tone with Ryan? This is moving so fast. And it looks like China has effectively shut down. NASA released images showing air pollution has dropped dramatically over the country. The Chinese are certainly taking the virus seriously.
It’s not every month we get a new virus name. Everything changing so quickly, and all the talk with immunologists is COVID-19. I fear it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.