Immunology and Infection Research PhD

The University of Edinburgh

Immunology and Infection Research has a proud tradition here at the School of Biological Sciences. As a researcher, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Nobel Prize winners – from malaria pioneer Sir Ronald Ross to the 2001 laureate Sir Paul Nurse – and other great names who have made ground-breaking discoveries over the years.

Our leadership in infectious disease research has emerged alongside the School’s strength in population biology and quantitative genetics. Our close association with biologists in these areas can be a valuable asset to your work.

Our institute has more than 20 research group leaders, including seven professors. While genetics is a core discipline, our work extends over molecular and cell biology, immunology, evolutionary biology and epidemiology.

Themes

We cover a number of overlapping themes of study.

In fundamental immunology, we look at how B and T lymphocytes interact and develop in response to antigen challenge, and how responses are initiated by dendritic cells and dampened by regulatory cells.

Helminth, allergy and wound repair models are used to understand immune responses in both practical and evolutionary terms.

Immune regulation of disease projects aims to design immunological interventions to ameliorate pathology or to enhance host immunity, in conjunction with new vaccines against parasites and therapies for autoimmunity.

Work on molecular biology and genetics of parasites focuses on the identification of vaccine candidates and virulence factors in malaria parasites, the cell biology of trypanosomes and proteomics and transcriptomics of helminth worm parasites.

In molecular microbiology, we look at how microRNAs regulate immune signalling and how pathogens manipulate these processes. Host-pathogen population biology integrates conventional immunology, pathogen research and systems-level quantitative biology, using mathematical approaches in both experimental models and the epidemiology of human and animal infections.

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