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Research activities
Centre for adult primary immunodefiency

Tumour Immunology, Cellular and Gene Therapy

Group leader: Professor Hans Stauss

Leader	Main interest
Dr Emma Morris	Novel approaches to antigen-specific T cell therapies TCR Gene Therapy Clinical translation and Phase I trials

Summary of research

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Funding: Leukaemia Research Fund, Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, The Dinwoodie Trust, AICR.

Selected publications

Group members:

Prof Hans Stauss MD PhD Professor and Head of Department h.stauss@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Emma Morris PhD, MRCP, MRCPath. Senior Lecturer and Hon Consultant e.morris@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Shao-an Xue PhD Senior Post Doc s.xue@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Liquan Gao MD Senior Research Fellow l.gao@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Dr Sharyn Thomas PhD Post Doc s.thomas@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Michela CescoGaspere PhD Post Doc m.cescogaspere@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Christina Cellerai PhD Post Doc c.cellerai@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Dan Hart MB ChB, MRCP Clinical Research Fellow d.hart@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Dr Judy King MA, MBBS, MRCP Clinical Research Fellow j.king@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Mr Aristotle Tsallios MSc PhD Student a.tsallios@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Mr Graham Wright BSc PhD Student g.wright@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Ms Constandina Pospori IBSc MB PhD Student c.pospori@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Mr Mario Perro MSc PhD Student m.perro@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Ms Angelika Holler MSc Technician a.holler@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Ms Theres Matjeka MSc Visiting Student t.matjeka@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Mrs Eira Rawlings MSc, HND Laboratory Manager e.rawlings@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

Molecular Genetics of Primary Immunodeficiencies

Group leader: Professor Bodo Grimbacher

Leader	Main interest
Dr Erik Glocker	The genetic causes of primary antibody deficiencies Positional Cloning and Linkage Analysis Infections in the immunodeficient host, Microbiology
Dr Gabriela Lopez-Herrera	The genetic causes of primary antibody deficiencies The role of TACI in CSR and SHM
Dr Karin Engelhardt	The genetic cause of autosomal-recessive hyper-IgE recurrent infection syndrome New disease genes in severe congenital neutropenia Positional Cloning and Linkage Analysis
Miss Cristina Woellner	The genetic cause of Hyper IgE Syndromes Role of Th17 cells in the pathophysiology of primary immunodeficiencies
Ms Jennifer Birmelin	TACI polymorphisms in autoimmunity and lymphoprolipheration Linkage analysis of CVID families
Miss Viviane Knerr	Clinical online registries The UKPIN registry The ESID registry
Mr David Guzman	Clinical online registries Data mining database development

Summary of research

Funding:

European Commission:
Marie-Curie grant MEXT-CT-2006-042316 from 11/06 to 10/2010
FP7 grant EURO PADnet from 05/08 to 12/10
Primary Immunodeficiency Association:
GSK grant 2008 (P5049) from 01/08 to 12/2010
UKPIN registry grant 2007/01 from 08/07 to 07/2010
National Institutes of Health:
USIDnet grant N01-A1-30070 from 11/06 to 12/07
USIDnet grant Contract Officer Approval 39 from 04/07 to 09/08.

Selected publications

Links: www.esid.org

Group members:

Prof Bodo Grimbacher MD Professor, Immunology Consultant, and Head of Marie Curie Research Group b.grimbacher@ucl.ac.uk	Dr Erik Glocker MD Senior Researcher e.glocker@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Gabriela Lopez Herrera PhD Postdoc g.herrera@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Dr Karin Engelhardt PhD Postdoc k.engelhardt@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Viviane Knerr Dipl Database Coordinator, Project manager for EU grants v.knerr@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	David Guzman Lic Database developer d.guzman@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Miss Cristina Woellner MSc PhD-Student c.woellner@medsch.ucl.ac.uk	Jennifer Birmelin Research assistant and PhD student j.birmelin@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

What is the EURO-PADnet?

EU-PADnet represents a Europe-wide multidisciplinary consortium of clinician scientists and basic researchers focussing on the documentation of the genetic and molecular cause, the natural history, and the pathophysiology of Primary Antibody Deficiencies (PADs). Most PADs are considered to be Mendelian disorders. In this proposal, we will work towards the development of novel preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. We will:
- document and monitor the course of the disease in a clinical and research online database linked to a repository (WP1)
- develop new diagnostic tools and tests, including genetic and in vitro tests (WPs 2-5)
- address preventive medicine (WPs 1 and 5)
- work towards new therapeutic approaches (WP5)
- measure the quality of life from patients with PAD and their families (WP1)
- develop in vitro models for PAD (WP3)
- develop animal models for PAD (WP4)
The acquired knowledge will provide the bases for future development of diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive approaches.

Dr David Webster’s group

Role of persistent virus infections in Primary Immunodeficiency

A collaborative group within the Departments of Virology and Immunology on the Royal Free Campus is investigating the immunological defence mechanisms against cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID). Infected CVID patients often have exaggerated T cell responses to this virus, and at a clinical level this is closely associated with chronic inflammatory complications (e.g. granulomatous disease). Sensitive techniques to both assess CMV replication in tissues and to measure neutralizing antibodies are being developed to help test the hypothesis that an exaggerated T cell response is necessary to control CMV in patients who have low levels of antibodies.

Principal investigator – Prof Vince Emery, PhD student- Madhi Marashi (Virology)

Collaborators – Prof Bodo Grimbacher, Dr David Webster, Mohammad Raeiszadeh (Research Assistant) (Immunology)