Research Opportunities

In this project, we will investigate how different stimuli including IgG-immune complexes and TLR ligands affect the ability of DCs to influence T cell autocrine complement regulation. This is of relevance to our understanding of how inflammation is propagated in autoimmunity and for vaccination boost strategies.

The inflammasome consists of a cytosolic NOD-like receptor, an adaptor molecule (ASC) and an effector molecules caspase 1.  Once activated the inflammasome processes inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1 beta (IL1B) and IL18 as well as driving an aggressive form of cell death (pyroptosis).  Inflammasomme protein complexes are central to sustaining inflammation in acute diseases (like COVID-19 associated ARDS) or chronic conditions (such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes, arthritis).  Patients with rare autoactivating mutations in the NLR proteins have basally active inflammasomes leading to severe autoinflammatory syndromes. How inflammasome complexes form within the cell, particularly in patients with autoactivating mutations in NLRs are poorly understood.  

The aims of this project are as follows:
1.      Identify the molecular mechanisms by which the gain of function mutations causes constitutive activation of the NLRs
2.      Determine why gain of function mutations in different NLRs (NLRP3 and NLRC4) result in differences in inflammasome cytokine production with NLRP3 biased towards IL1B and NLRC4 towards IL18
3.      Visualise how gain of function mutations alter inflammasome formation by visualising the protein complexes at super resolution and atomic resolution

This project will study how the inflammasome forms using state of the art microscopy techniques including live super resolution imaging and cyroelectron microscopy tomography.  The consequences of the gain of function mutations on inflammasome formation will be studied using these techniques in cell lines where the key proteins are tagged and the gain of function mutations introduced by CRISPR/Cas9 (many of which are already available within the laboratory).  This work will be extended to consider cells from patients with these diseases to map back the biology and the imaging onto the cell line models.   

Asthma is the world’s commonest chronic lung disease, affecting 350 million people worldwide. The advent of novel ‘biologic’ therapies targeting specific phenotypes of asthma is currently revolutionizing the treatment of patients with type 2 inflammation. However, there are no specific treatments available for the 50% of patients with type 2 low disease. The Levine group has identified a novel pathobiologic mechanism involving dysregulation of apoplipoproteins, which may play an important role in this phenotype by regulating the recruitment and function of innate and adaptive immune cells, which may have relevance for resistance to corticosteroids. Peptide mimetics of these molecules have potential as novel therapies for asthma, especially for patients with type 2 low neutrophilic inflammation. Dr Hinks group uses in vitro, murine and ex vivo human studies on highly phenotyped asthmatics to explore the biology of the inflamed airway mucosa, particularly innate and adaptive immune cells. Through this collaboration the student would use a range of techniques and a mix of wet lab science and human experimental medicine to understand the translational potential of apolipoprotein biology in human asthma.

Regulatory T cells expressing the FoxP3 transcription factor (Tregs) are arguably the most important naturally-occurring anti-inflammatory cells in the body and are prime candidates for cellular therapy of autoimmunity and transplant rejection. They are potently immunosuppressive, indispensable for maintaining self-tolerance and in resolving inflammation. Tregs can be induced to develop dichotomously from naïve precursors that also have the ability to differentiate into inflammatory T cell lineages. The choice of differentiation pathway (“fate decisions”) is directed by environmental signals and interplay between many transcription factors working within networks. The expression of many genes is required for a healthy immune response and this is highlighted by the discovery of many gene mutations that are associated with very early onset auto-immune disease.

Our goal is to understand how transcriptional signals from the environment are integrated in T cells to determine inflammatory versus regulatory T cell differentiation and the quality and duration of effector function. Experimental approaches will involve genomics of patients with primary immuno-deficiencies and very early onset colitis, next generation sequencing platforms (RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, Cut&Run, ATAC-seq, scRNAseq), molecular and cell biology, CRISPR genome editing and in vivo murine models.

The metabolic repertoire of immune cells – which encompasses metabolic enzymes/pathways, the available nutrient sensors and metabolic checkpoint kinases, and the epigenetic programming of metabolic genes – directly enables and modulates specific immune functions. Capitalizing on a large cohort of patients suffering from rare genetic immunodeficiency that have been whole-genome sequenced, our goal is to delineate the genetic and molecular basis of how cellular metabolism regulates immune-function in human health and disease states. Experimental approaches will involve genomics, molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, and biochemistry with an aim to elucidating mechanisms that lead to new treatment approaches to inborn diseases of immunity.

The nutrient sensing and quality control linked organelles called lysosomes are best known to immunologists due to their roles in antigen presentation (dendritic cells) and in the facilitation of pathogen elimination (macrophages). Their role in the control of immunity is further recognized that inhibition of lysosomal function can promote anti-inflammatory effects by preventing the degradation of glucocorticoid receptors and conversely that impaired lysosome function in genetic lysosome storage diseases can blunt the number and function of natural killer cells. The Platt laboratory (Dept. of Pharmacology, Univ. of Oxford) investigates immune function in lysosome storage disease and the Sack laboratory (NHLBI, NIH) explores the molecular machinery controlling lysosomal homeostasis and their roles in immunity. An integrated project between the two labs, in collaboration with an NIH OxCam Scholar would be designed to enable the pursuit of an Ph.D. studying the role of lysosomes in controlling immune function.

*This project is available for the 2021 Oxford-NIH Pilot Programme*

Intracellular complement (the complosome) emerges as key regulator of key cell metabolic pathways in a range of (immune) cells. In consequence, perturbations in complosome activity contribute to human disease states, including recurrent infections and autoimmunity. Recent data also indicate that high complosome expression is the defining feature of tissue-resident immune cells including T cells and macrophages. In this project, we will combine pertinent mouse models and intravital imaging to address the role of the complosome in maintaining residency and sustaining function crosstalk between immune and parenchymal cells in tissues (lung/kidney/brain?) during normal homeostasis and in disease (which one?).