Autoinflammatory Diseases Group
We investigate the immunology underlying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Our group consists of mucosal immunologists, virologists, colorectal surgeons and bioinformaticians. We carry out our research on human intestinal tissue freshly discarded from surgery and pioneered immune cell isolation protocols allowing us to carry out functional assays. We have used high parameter flow cytometry and imaging mass cytometry to define the immune cell profile of tissue affected by IBD and revealed that certain subsets of dendritic cells play a role in mediating IBD. We have also interrogated these tissues for viral signatures in order to determine if IBD, like other autoimmune diseases, is linked to viral infection.
Recent Achievements
- Interrogation of RNAseq and spatial transcriptomic data to link viral gene signatures to Crohn’s Disease
- Defining a link between a new dendritic cell population and Crohn’s Disease
- Generation of a high parameter flow cytometry panels to accurately define human intestinal tissue immune cell populations.
Recent publications
Defining the landscape of human epidermal mononuclear phagocytes. Immunity 2023. PMID: 36921567.
March 2023
An in situ analysis pipeline for initial host - pathogen interactions reveals signatures of human colorectal HIV transmission. Cell Reports 2022. PMID: 36130503.
September 2022
OMIP-096: A 24-color flow cytometry panel to identify and characterize CD4+ and CD8+ tissue-resident T cells in human skin, intestinal, and type II mucosal tissue. Cytometry A 2023. PMID: 37772977.
September 2023
OMIP 082: A 25-color phenotyping to define human innate lymphoid cells, natural killer cells, mucosal-associated invariant T cells, and γδ T cells from freshly isolated human intestinal tissue. Cytometry A 2022. PMID: 35018731.
March 2022
Optimal isolation protocols for examining and interrogating mononuclear phagocytes from human intestinal tissue. Frontiers in Immunology 2021. PMID: 34566985.
September 2021
| NAME | ROLE |
| Andrew Harman | Group Leader |
| Scott Byrne | Group Leader |
| Kirstie Bertram | Postdoc |
| James Toh | Colorectal Surgeon |
| Nimalan Pathma-Nathan | Colorectal Surgeon |
| Thomas O’Neil | Postdoc |
| Heeva Baharlou | Postdoc |
| Erica Vine | PhD Student |
| Olaitan Ogunbodede | PhD Student |
| Shivana Cameron | Honours Student |
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