Polly Roy began her education in Calcutta, India but won a fellowship to NYU for her PhD under the supervision of the molecular biologist, Sol Spiegleman. A 3-year postdoctoral position in RNA virology at the Waksman Institute, Rutgers University, followed after which she joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham to establish her own Bluetongue virus research group with funds from NIH, NSF and USDA. In 1985 she became a Professor at UAB in 1985. In 1987 she received a senior International Fogarty fellowship to study at the University of Oxford where she gradually established a UK-based research group. In 1997, she became Professor at the University of Oxford and in 2001 took the chair of Virology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her studies have contributed in many areas of virology, notably virus structure, assembly, RNA replication and virus release. She has supervised over 140 post-doctoral and post-graduate researchers, published over 290 research papers and has served on various International scientific organisations, committees and boards. She has organized several highly successful international conferences, particularly on the subject of virus assembly and in 2006 was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Roy’s salient contribution has been the first complete molecular understanding of a distinct group of viruses, orbiviruses, of serious health and economic impact. Roy used multi-disciplinary approaches to provide a detailed understanding of a complex double -stranded RNA virus, Bluetongue virus (BTV), a member of the Reoviridae (one of the largest RNA virus family) and a modelsystem for a number of similar viruses that are pathogenic to human and animal (e.g. Rotaviruses). Polly Roy research interests include RNA virology, Viral genetics, Protein function and capsid assembly, Replication of segmented genome and packaging, Virus trafficking in the host cell, Technology development and the generation of particulate vaccines