Joannah Fergusson
Affiliate Scientist
After studying Immunology as an undergraduate at the University of Bristol, I undertook a DPhil at the University of Oxford, within the Wellcome Trust Infection, Immunology and Translational Medicine programme. In the lab of Prof. Paul Klenerman I worked on characterising Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells and other T cells with shared transcriptional and functional phenotypes.
After my DPhil I moved to the University of Amsterdam to research Innate Lymphoid Cells as part of Professor Hergen Spits’ lab. This research also took me into the fundamental biology of other innate cells, particularly dendritic cells. From there I joined the Infectious Diseases disease biology team at Immunocore, establishing infectious disease models to investigate novel T cell therapies targeting HIV and Hepatitis B. This work supported the entry of a Hepatitis B-targeting molecule into first-in-human trials.
In 2021 I joined the Vaccine Formulation and Adjuvants Group led by Prof. Anita Milicic where, together with Prof. Mark Coles and Prof. Calliope Dendrou, we studied the earliest events in inflammation through support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Using a model of adjuvant-stimulated inflammation in ex vivo human secondary lymphoid organs, and utilising single cell transcriptomics and multiplexed imaging, we are mapping the localisation and chronology of the molecular and cellular events initiating inflammation.
Joannah Fergusson @ Kennedy Institute Website
