About us

Our mission

The immune system is essential for tissue homeostasis and host defence against pathogens. Immune dysregulation underlies the aetiopathogenesis of many common diseases, including systemic autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, atherosclerosis and a significant fraction of cancers. Gaining a better understanding of how the immune system contributes to the pathogenesis of these diseases is required for the development of more targeted therapies.

The aim of the Immuno-Pathology Network, based with the Department of Immunology and Inflammation, is to ensure effective communication between basic research scientists (biology, chemistry, physics, bioengineering), clinicians, public health experts and environmental scientists with an interest in immune-pathology across and within Faculties at Imperial College London. The Network will provide the framework to foster pipelines of research from basic to clinical and translational.

Our members are working to address several key global challenges in immunopathology-related research. Together, we are seeking to gain an understanding of:

• How the microbiota shapes the developing innate/adaptive immune system and modulates the immuno-inflammatory reaction in health and disease (e.g. cancer, obesity and chronic inflammatory diseases).
• The mechanisms underpinning the immunosuppressive activity of the tumour microenvironment (in particular, CD8+ T cell exclusion from tumours) to overcome primary and secondary resistance to anticancer immunotherapies.
• The mechanisms by which inflammation controls metabolism and stemness to drive epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cell migration and metastasis in cancer.
• How inflammation alters the natural evolution the innate and adaptive immune system during ageing
• The immunosuppressive mechanisms that prevent rejection of the foetus during pregnancy as a way to develop novel therapeutic routes to treat transplant rejection and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases
• The mechanisms by which chronic infection persists in the host by evading and/or suppressing the immuno-inflammatory response
• The precise contributions of different cell types (eg. stromal cells, mono-myeloid cells, dendritic cells, T cells etc.) to the induction and downregulation of immune/inflammatory responses and how these mechanisms are subverted in cancer and chronic autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.

Steering committee