I focus on immune derangement after long term hepatitis C virus infection that disposes to Hepatocellular Carcinoma. I also study immune and cardiovascular health in Rheumatoid Arthritis, Naive CD4 T cell phenotype and function, senescence, aging and Treg in host response to COVID.
Research Information
Research Interests
I am an established researcher in the field of cellular immune function during chronic viral infection since 1999. I hold National funding for the study of dendritic cell and NK cell subsets, for the study of pathways underlying chronic immune activation during Hepatitis C infection and associated HCC, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and COVID. Work has included phenotypic (activation/maturation state and DC subset analysis), functional (cytokine secretion, naïve T cell activation, NK cell activation in response to TLR ligand stimulus), and proteome analysis of human peripheral blood dendritic cell subsets. Our work currently focuses on how the host immune system is involved in the pathogenesis of HCV-associated HCC, how immune activation impacts upon both immune and cardiovascular health in the setting of Rheumatoid Arthritis, and how immune health relates to outcome of COVID.