Personal Statement
I am a clinician scientist studying viral disease and vaccines, particularly arboviruses. I am based in Liverpool where I perform early phase human trials and human experimental medicine studies looking at immune responses to viruses and viral vaccines in detail. My areas of technical expertise, and our institutional facilities, include flow cytometry, high containment level laboratory work, single cell sequencing, human antibody cloning, and multiple techniques to study the function of human T cell responses. I also have expertise in data analysis and immunological laboratory data work flow.

I have particular expertise in human T cell responses to Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus and JE vaccine. I have also worked on other emerging virus infections, such as EV-71, SARS-CoV-2 and monkeypox. I have worked with several large consortia, such as ZikaPLAN, ISARIC4C, UK-CIC, PITCH and PHOSP-COVID. Current projects include a detailed study of JE vaccine responses, and a first-in-human trial of a Zika vaccine.

My work has pivoted to SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic and has been used to inform and support vaccine policy, such as the relevance of measuring T cell responses to vaccines and not only antibody.

My clinical interests include brain infections and infections in immunocompromised patients.

Research Overview
Research Projects:

FlaviPrime - the FlaviPrime study is looking at the cross-reactivity between flaviviruses in a model system, using an infectious attenuated vaccine in a unique human experimental system. We have used the recombinant Japanese encephalitis vaccine IMOJEV in Europe for the first time. We have studied the new antibody response using single cell sequencing of plasmablasts, and we have cloned antibodies to study their specificity and cross-reactivity. We are also studying T cell responses to vaccines against Japanese encephalitis.

ZikaVac - ZikaVac (lead: Prof Neil French) is taking a novel Zika vaccine designed to generate a broad and physiological immune response into first in human trials. I am responsible for the immune endpoint work for the study, and partly for the clinical conduct of the study.

PITCH/SIREN - I am co-PI of the SIREN study in Liverpool, and I run the Liverpool arm of the PITCH consortium (lead: Prof Susie Dunachie) alongside Dr Dan Wootton. PITCH (Protective Immunity from T Cells in Healthcare workers) is a collaboration between 6 universities and UK-HSA

ARBO-UK - the ARBO-UK study is lead by Dr Lynsey Goodwin and is prospectively collecting cases of arbovirus infection imported into the UK. ARBO-UK is funded by NIHR, through the HPRU in emerging and zoonotic infections, in collaboration with UK-HSA and Dr Tom Fletcher

Cross-reactive T cells in human virus infection - we are studying the potential of cross-reactive T cells to kill cells infected with viruses that have never infected the host. We hope to identify common T cell antigens that could form the basis of of multi-valent vaccines.

CCP Cancer - I am co-CI of the CCP cancer study alongside Prof Carlo Palmieri. This study is examining the effects of COVID-19 on patients with cancer.

A full list of publications can be found here (Google Scholar) or here (Pubmed)