Immunology Program

The Immunology Program provides an advanced research and training environment with a critical mass of interdisciplinary expertise and infrastructure focussing on the following problems:

•• mechanisms of immune-mediated pathology, particularly autoimmune diseases such as lupus and diabetes, allergic diseases such as asthma, hyper-IgE syndromes and dermatitis, and viral “"cytokine storms"”

•• mechanisms of immunity to infection, the longevity of immunity and immunological memory, and immunodeficiency syndromes

••mechanisms of leukocyte differentiation, trafficking, and growth control that are pertinent to cancer, immunological tolerance, autoimmunity, allergy and immunodeficiency.

Most immune-mediated diseases currently fall into broad clusters and are managed with relatively non-specific therapies. Our program is uniquely placed to resolve in fine detail the heterogeneous genetic and cellular basis of disease phenotypes. This strategy hinges on mouse libraries, human genetic repositories, and infrastructure for sophisticated genetic, biochemical and cellular analysis, and collaboration in national and international consortia. ‘'Deconstructing' current concepts of immune diseases via better understanding of causal pathways is key to more targeted and personalised therapy.

Our research is supported by the NHMRC, ARC, Ramaciotti Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Wellcome Trust, and NIAID of The National Institutes of Health.

Recent Immunology Program news:

September 2009: John Altin, a PhD student with Dr Matt Cook, Dr Ed Bertram and Professor Chris Goodnow, won first prize for best research presentation at the September 2009 meeting of the NSW/ACT Australasian Society for Immunology, held in Bowral. This adds to John’s other recent achievements, including travel to California in 2009 to learn advanced phospho-flow methods at Stanford University, a travel award to attend the 2008 RIKEN Summer School in Immunology in Japan, the ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar for the highest ranked PhD applicant in the ANU Biosciences, ANU University Medals in Science and Law, and A Mus A for pianoforte. More recent news