I am an immunologist determining the development and function of the dendritic cell system, including its role in autoimmunity and resistance to infection.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world. While therapies to treat cancer have continued to improve one area that, in theory at least, shows great promise in the treatment of tumours is manipulating the immune system to effectively recognize and destroy cancerous lesions. Experiments in human and animal systems have clearly shown that the immune system has the potential to respond to tumour cells and trials of tumour vaccines are underway. It has recently become a ....Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world. While therapies to treat cancer have continued to improve one area that, in theory at least, shows great promise in the treatment of tumours is manipulating the immune system to effectively recognize and destroy cancerous lesions. Experiments in human and animal systems have clearly shown that the immune system has the potential to respond to tumour cells and trials of tumour vaccines are underway. It has recently become apparent that the immune responses to tumours may be inhibited by classes of regulatory immune cells. Eliminating these cells results in a more vigorous and effective anti-tumour response. This project will seek to discover the mechanisms of action of theses regulatory immune cells in order to devise more effective anti-cancer vaccines and therapies.Read moreRead less
T cells are a central component of the immune system and without T cells the body is very vulnerable to infections. One subgroup of T cells is the killer T cells that are important for identifying and killing cells infected by viruses and bacteria. The immune system works to maintain T cell numbers at a fairly constant level and part of this process includes sending signals to the killer T cells from other cells via cell surface protein interactions and soluble mediators, such as cytokines. We h ....T cells are a central component of the immune system and without T cells the body is very vulnerable to infections. One subgroup of T cells is the killer T cells that are important for identifying and killing cells infected by viruses and bacteria. The immune system works to maintain T cell numbers at a fairly constant level and part of this process includes sending signals to the killer T cells from other cells via cell surface protein interactions and soluble mediators, such as cytokines. We have been studying killer T cells, which are missing a protein SOCS1. SOCS1 is important for switching off the signals generated by a group of cytokines. As a consequence of being unable to correctly regulate cytokine signals these killer T cells multiply inappropriately and contribute to disease development. Our current work is aimed at achieving a better understanding of the particular interactions between killer T cells and other immune system cells and the soluble factors that deliver important signals for maintaining killer T cells in the immune system. The ability to better understand the factors controlling the maintenance of killer T cells will enable us to more intelligently target the immune system ,which is important for improving vaccine strategies and cancer immunotherapy as well as for controlling T cells that are activated inappropriately, such as in autoimmune disease.Read moreRead less
Investigation Into The Immunogenicity Of Dendritic Cell-derived Exosomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$257,036.00
Summary
Dendritic cells are essential in immune responses. They have unique capacity to stimulate lymphocytes specific to viruses, bacteria and cancers. They are extremely rare and difficult to isolate. We have developed a method of culture which gives a continuous supply of dendritic cells. Cells produced in our culture also produce a high yield of acellular membranous particles called 'exosomes' which have been previously been very difficult to isolate and characterise. Some preliminary reports sugges ....Dendritic cells are essential in immune responses. They have unique capacity to stimulate lymphocytes specific to viruses, bacteria and cancers. They are extremely rare and difficult to isolate. We have developed a method of culture which gives a continuous supply of dendritic cells. Cells produced in our culture also produce a high yield of acellular membranous particles called 'exosomes' which have been previously been very difficult to isolate and characterise. Some preliminary reports suggest that exosomes can induce or modify immune responses and that they have enormous immunotherapeutic potential. Further study of their clinical application is limited by the difficulty of isolating enough dendritic cells from which to isolate exosomes. This study will involve production and characterisation of exosomes from our unique murine dendritic cell culture system. Exosomes isolated will be assessed in terms of potential for immunotherapeutic treatment of disease such as cancer, viral infection and autoimmunity.Read moreRead less
Role Of Dendritic Cell Subsets In The Generation Of CD4 T Cell Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$563,554.00
Summary
This project studies the mechanisms responsible for establishing immunologic memory that is generated by vaccination and determines its efficacy. We aim to identify and study previously unacknowledged factors that critically affect the efficacy of vaccination. The results will be significant for both preventative and therapeutic vaccination (cancer, autoimmunity) and will help us to design new vaccines to improve immune function in infection, autoimmunity and cancer.