Abstract: Our current textbook understanding of T-cell mediated immunity has been established through the intense study of “conventional” αβ T-cells and the αβ T-cell receptor’s (TCR) remarkable ability to detect pathogen infected cells by recognising foreign peptide antigens. Despite human γδ T-cells being implicated in immunity to major infectious diseases such as Malaria and TB, the role of human γδ T-cells and the mechanisms they use to detect infection are largely unclear. In a series of studies, we have developed our understanding human γδ T-cell immunobiology. We have found that the distinct γδ T-cell compartment and their unique biology is radically shaped at the early stages of inflammatory bowel disease or by Plasmodium falciparum encounter (causative agent of Malaria). 

Biography: I obtained my PhD from Cardiff University in 2013 and then went on to undertake post-doctoral training with Prof. Ben Willcox at the University of Birmingham. I then moved to Monash University, Australia in 2018 to establish an independent research group. I have built a diverse research programme to investigate the role of unconventional human immune cells at the interface of health and disease. In recognition of this I have been awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowship and project grant funding from the ARC, Rebecca Cooper Foundation and U.S. Department of Defense. In August 2022 I returned to the UK as a Royal Society Wolfson Fellow and established my lab in the department.