Division of Immunology

We are also interested in how some microorganisms that cause infectious diseases exploit or escape the actions of the immune system to establish infection, and developing immune system-based treatments such as vaccines to help protect against important infectious diseases of livestock species. 

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Sustainable Agriculture 

Antibiotics have been an important way to treat infectious diseases but many microorganisms are developing resistance to them.  Antimicrobial resistance has important concerns for both animal and human health as well as food safety.  By discovering novel ways to enhance the protective responses of the animal’s immune system our work will help to reduce this reliance on the use of antibiotics by developing alternative, safe and effective means to protect against a wide variety of infectious diseases.

Infectious Diseases 

We study the interactions between the animal’s immune system and a broad range of microorganisms that are responsible for causing important infections in animals and livestock species, as well as those that can spread to humans and cause zoonotic disease.  These include bacteria such as those which cause bovine tuberculosis or food-borne diseases such as Salmonella, parasites including African trypanosomes and intestinal worms, viruses such as avian influenza, and prions which include the disease known as scrapie in sheep and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle.

Enhancing Health 

By understanding the development and function of the immune system across the life-course, our work will help us to improve the health of both animals and humans by identifying factors which influence susceptibility to a range of important infectious diseases, as well as novel means to counteract the adverse effects of aging on the immune system.