Investigating the ability of human lung fibroblasts to serve as an antigen presenting cell to lung-resident T helper cells. While fibroblasts are understood to have a key role in the maintenance of the lung structure, their function in immune responses is still poorly understood. Of particular interest is the nature of the relationship between fibroblasts and the abundant numbers of CD4+ T helper cells present in the submucosal zones of the lung. As a number of bacterial infections are known to readily penetrate the epithelial barrier during certain infectious scenarios, my project investigated whether fibroblasts would have the potential to influence immunity in the lung via activation of lung resident T helper cells.This project made extensive use of human lung tissue samples and donor matched blood, allowing autologous examination of antigen-specific responses. Work from this project was presented at a number of national and international conferences and results were published in the Journal of Immunology (see publications)

At the university of Glasgow I undertook the Immunology undergraduate course. During this time I developed a keen interest in the field of autoimmunity, chronic inflammation and the concept of cell-to-cell communication- particularly between immune cells and structural cells of the peripheral zones. Over the course of my time at Glasgow I undertook a MRS-funded vacation scholarship with Dr Carl Goodyears lab where I investigated the effect of immune complexes on the development of osteoclasts from progenitor cells in a mouse model system. As a senior honours student I also undertook a research project with Prof Hugh Willisons lab, investigating the comparative ability of ELISA and glycoarray techniques to identify the presence of serum based autoreactive antibodies targeted to neuronal glycosphingolipids in patients with multifocal motor neuropathy. This culminated in a publication (see publications section).