Functional heterogeneity of human mononuclear phagocytes in health and disease

Mononuclear phagocytes are professional antigen presenting cells with a critical role in immunity, tolerance and tissue homeostasis.  There have been significant inroads in our understanding of their composition and function through functional genomics and comparative biology approaches.  However, there are known unknowns that are intractable using conventional methodologies. 

In this seminar, I will present an overview of our current understanding of the human mononuclear phagocyte network and new insights provided by single cell technologies.

About the Speaker

Muzlifah is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Science, Professor of Dermatology and Immunology in Newcastle University.  She graduated in medicine from University of Wales Cardiff and completed her general medicine and dermatology training in Cambridge and Newcastle.  She received her PhD from Newcastle University funded by an Action Medical Research Clinical Training Fellowship and carried out her postdoctoral research in Singapore and Newcastle funded by a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship.  Her research has been recognised by a number of awards including the Lister Institute Research Prize Fellowship (2016), European Society for Dermatology Research LEO Pharma Research Foundation Silver Award (2013), the British Society for Investigative Dermatology Young Investigator Award (2012) and Sue McCarthy Prize (runner-up) for the UK Medical Research Society Young Investigator Award (2009).

Muzlifah’s research programme is focused on understanding the functional heterogeneity of human mononuclear phagocytes (a family of white blood cells comprising dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages), which initiate and regulate immune responses. Her goal is to understand how mononuclear phagocytes regulate tissue homeostasis, immunity upon vaccination and the role they play in disease pathogenesis. This knowledge is essential for the development of new strategies to manipulate the host immune response to improve vaccination and immunotherapeutic strategies.