Division of Infection and Immunity

On Saturday 29 June 2013, the Centre will join other MRC-funded groups and units based at UCL to host a free Centenary Open Day and Science Fair to celebrate MCR-funded research at UCL. This will be a family fun day catering for all ages, with interactive exhibits, lab tours, talks, workshops and games. Other Units & Centres involved will be:

The MRC Centre welcomes new members Dr Joe Grove, Dr Ravindra Gupta, Dr Helen Rowe, Prof David Sansom, Prof Gitta Stockinger, and Dr Lucy Walker.

Congratulations to Lucy Bell (Noursadeghi group), Laura McCoy (Weiss group), and Dimitra Peppa (Maini group) in receiving travels grants as part of the Centre's MRC Centenary Early Career Award.  Earlier this year, the MRC offered £12 million of Centenary Early Career Awards to the very best of its early career researchers, giving an opportunity to accelerate their research and career development, building on the achievements these researchers have already made whilst being supported by MRC.

Congratulations to PhD student James Heather, who has been selected to present at the Immunology themed plenary session at this event being held at UCL on 28 June. 

A genetic finding could help to explain why influenza becomes a life-threatening disease for some people, and yet has only a mild effect on others. Collaborative research led by scientists at UCL and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found that people who carry a particular variant of the IFITM3 gene are significantly more likely to be hospitalised when they fall ill with influenza than those who carry other variants.

Congratulations to Alastair Hotblack, Richard Miles, and Matthew Paul for their successful award of 'Bench to Bedside' studentships.  This unique scheme offers students the opportunity to develop both the skills and experience to have an understanding and appreciation of the clinical context of their fields of research.

Recombinant DNA technology has been in widespread use since the 1980s. It has allowed the engineering of viral genomes to produce a number of safe and useful medicines. To mark World AIDS Day, this lecture by Prof Mary Collins discusses the development of engineered viruses, such as HIV, to treat rare genetic disorders – “gene therapy”- and the use of these engineered viruses as vaccines.

The MRC Centre Annual research Day held on November 11 2011 was a great success, offering an excellent overview of research currently conducted by Centre members, and insights on future work.  Full programme details and films of selected talks from the day can be currently found on our Research page.

The MRC Centre for Medical Molecular Virology is now accepting applications for PhD studentships starting in September 2012.  For full details on the scheme, projects available, and how to apply please go to the MRC Centre website.  Applications close 15 December 2011.

Friday 11 November 2011 from 9.00am, UCL Christopher Ingold Lecture Theatre

To showcase the research currently undertaken by member groups, the Centre is holding its annual Research Day on 11 November.  The day includes talks from Centre primary investigators and their teams, a lunchtime poster session, and concluding with a drinks reception.  The day is an excellent opportunity to learn more about recent Centre successes and current research, while providing an ideal platform for future collaborative links to be established.

Tuesday 8 November, 2011, from 4pm

This is a new partnership between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and University College London, to form a centre for world leading research on infectious diseases. Involving many MRC Centre members, BiPR will bring together the basic science, translational and clinical expertise across the institutions, and associated hospitals, to provide an optimal environment to produce new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics.

On October 12th Ari Fassati gave a lecture at the Thomas More Institute, London, entitled "Conscience and Values in the Response to Infectious Diseases" as part of the conference series "Ethics in Public life". Former speakers of this series include Prof. Neil Scolding (Neuroscience Bristol University); Lord Justice Maurice Kay; Baroness Scotland (Attorney General for England and Wales).

Centre members Dr David Escors and Prof Mary Collins show that the interaction between programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) on dendritic cells (DCs) and programmed death 1 (PD-1) on CD8 T cells contributes to ligand-induced TCR down-modulation.  Full details can be found at the EMBO Molecular Medicine website.

MRC Centre members Prof Greg Towers, Dr Milne and their team were welcomed by years 3-6 pupils at Mayflower Primary School during June to share their knowledge of viruses and parasites, while the pupils engaged in hands-on activities find out more on the Public Engagement pages

The Colloquium this year on 6th June was again a great success, a great turn out of staff and students enjoyed a half day of talks, lunchtime poster session, and concluding with an evening drinks reception & prizegiving.  Students Dimitra Peppa and Ashleigh Howes took joint prize for best presentation, while Therese Matjeka walked away with prize for best poster.  A big thank you for all who contributed and attended.

Wednesday 11th May 2011, 12a Barkston Gardens, SW5 0ER

Dr. Ariberto Fassati will present an overview of the current AIDS epidemic.  Learn about the origin of HIV, prevention of transmission, treatment of infection and the most recent developments in pursuit of an effective vaccine.  Tickets are £35 and all proceeds go directly to mothers2mothers.  See http://www.m2m.org/get-involved/m4m2m/231.html for further details.

Congratulations to Alistair Copland on winning first prize for the Biomedical Sciences category at this year's event.  For full details see the UCL Graduate School pages  Alistair is currently in his second year of study towards his PhD, as part of the 'Bench to Bedside' scheme.