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21/05/2025

Opening up the research toolkit

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the 2023-2024 Institute Review.

In 2024, Professor Kai-Michael Toellner joined the Institute’s Immunology programme after 30 years at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy. We find out what drew him from the UK’s second-largest city to the Babraham Research Campus, the pressing questions he wants to answer, and why it’s vital we understand more about how our immune system works.

20/05/2025

Immunology, interactions and interplay

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the 2023-2024 Institute Review.

As we age, our bodies become more prone to infection and disease, and vaccination becomes less effective. Dr Martin Turner, Head of the Immunology programme, talks about why a deeper understanding of the immune system is key to lifelong health and why—after almost 30 years at the Institute—the programme’s research continues to excite.

18/12/2023

Natural born killers

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the 2021-2022 Review.

Dr Arianne Richard talks about T cells, how knowing more about how they operate could open up new vaccines against viruses and new therapies for cancer, and why the Institute is the best place for her to tackle these questions.

29/11/2021

Responding to the COVID crisis

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the Annual Research Report 2019-2020.

As well as exposing weaknesses in healthcare systems and supply chains, the coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of fundamental research and collective effort. During 2020, scientists rose to the challenge of developing new vaccines and effective treatments for Covid-19. Institute immunologists Dr Michelle Linterman and Professor Adrian Liston describe how their labs responded and the lessons we must learn.

29/11/2021

The essential element

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the Annual Research Report 2019-2020.

Oxygen makes up 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere and plays a pivotal role in biological systems. Despite this, huge gaps remain in our understanding of how this essential element regulates cell signalling pathways and affects our immune system – questions that Dr Sarah Ross aims to answer.

05/08/2019

New horizons for immunology

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the Annual Research Report 2018

New group leaders bring new skills, new expertise and new perspectives, and 2018 saw three new group leaders join the Institute’s Immunology programme. Professor Adrian Liston, Dr Claudia Ribeiro de Almeida and Dr Sarah Ross talk about their research, their ambitions and what makes the Institute such a special place to work.

01/07/2018

Vaccinations: a Global Challenge

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the Annual Research Report 2017

The Institute’s research is having a major impact on global public health. Although the first vaccines were developed more than two centuries ago, infectious diseases such as malaria and influenza still affect millions of people each year. By improving our understanding of the immune system and its response to modern vaccines, the Institute is paving the way for better vaccines that will protect more people from life-threatening diseases.

01/05/2017

Checks and balances in immune system development

This feature was written by Becky Allen for the Annual Research Report 2016

In 1796, a doctor in rural Gloucestershire took pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand to inoculate an eight-year-old boy against smallpox. More than 230 years after Edward Jenner’s pioneering vaccination, we still don’t fully understand how our immune system works. Now, researchers in the Institute’s Immunology programme have uncovered a new layer of regulation in immune cells – a discovery that could have far-reaching implications for vaccines, cancer and healthier ageing.