The Mucosal Immunology group seeks to develop innovative treatments for inflammation and chronic illnesses, like allergies, asthma and inflammatory bowel diseases, with a particular focus on children. We work in collaboration with other academics, clinicians, paediatricians, dietitians, chemists, and computational biologists to translate our efforts to the clinic and bring our findings to the public. We are interested in the mechanisms of immune dysregulation, the role of the microbiome and its interaction with the different immune compartments to understand disease onset.
CURRENT RESEARCH
- determine the composition of AIP-2-shaped breastmilk and define the microbiome, metabolome and immune landscape of AIP-2-nursed pups
- determine the role of microbiome, immune factors and short-chain fatty acids in AIP-2-induced tolerance
- influence of parasite infection on microbiome and metabolite composition in mother/baby dyads from hookworm endemic areas
- development of a hookworm recombinant protein for the suppression of allergic responses
- amelioration of behavioural alterations induced by the chronic social defeat model of major depressive disorder with a hookworm recombinant protein
- Allergic diseases, food allergies
- Asthma
- Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
- Helminth infection
- Major Depression / affective disorders (gut-brain axis)
- Nutrition / malnutrition and disease onset
- Cancer and check point inhibitors
- High blood pressure and metabolic disorders
Staff
- Adrian Ilich
- Agnieszka Malczewski
- Alexis Hung
- Athena Andreosso
- Bree Whiteoak
- Juciliane Haidamak
- Madeleine Rogers
- Prarthna Gopalakrishnan Bhaskaran
- Yan Lu
Internal Collaborators
External Collaborators
- Dr Andrew Greenhill, Federation University Australia
- Dr Andreas Kupz, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University
- Professor Andreas Lopata, James Cook University
- Dr Paul Horwood, James Cook University
- Professor Zoltan Sarnyai, James Cook University
- Associate Professor Victoria Eley, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
- Professor Leonie Callaway, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
- Professor Nikhil Thapar, Queensland Children’s Hospital
- Professor Danielle Gallegos, Queensland University of Technology
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following funding agencies:
- Mary McConnel Career Boost Program for Women in Paediatric Research
- Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation Seed Grants
- Woolworths Children Nutrition Research Centre/ Children’s Hospital Foundation Fellowship
- Takeda COCKPI-T
- Therapeutic Innovation Australia