In the Spotlight: Humphreys Laboratory - understanding immune responses to viruses

Our body’s immune system protects us from infection, but sometimes it overreacts and causes organ damage in a process called inflammation.

The Humphreys laboratory, led by Professor Ian Humphreys, is an eclectic mix of clinical and non-clinical students, postdoctoral researchers and research assistants, working in the Division of Infection and Immunity and the Systems Immunity University Research Institute (SIURI), who want to understand immune responses to viruses and decipher what mechanisms control this balancing act in our bodies.

The Humphreys lab is particularly interested in two important viruses; influenza and the herpesvirus cytomegalovirus which is a serious problem in both immune-suppressed adults (such as transplant patients) and in young children following congenital infection. Ian describes: “We study these processes in experimental models and, in the case of cytomegalovirus, we work with the Wales Kidney Research Unit to study infection of recipients of transplanted kidneys.

By studying virus-induced inflammation, we aim to develop anti-inflammatory strategies that can be safely used to treat the harmful side-effects of viral infections. We also hope to understand better how different people respond differently to viruses. To achieve these goals, the laboratory has been awarded a prestigious £2M Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship renewal.”

The Humphreys laboratory is also interested in exploiting viruses as vaccines, working in collaboration with the laboratories of Andrew Godkin, Awen Gallimore and Richard Stanton. The idea is to make safe cytomegaloviruses that are unable to divide and cause disease but are engineered to produce proteins produced by cancers. By doing this, the immune response can be ‘tricked’ into thinking that the cancer is part of the virus. Because our immune system typically reacts more strongly to viruses than cancers, immune responses capable of countering cancer development can be induced.

To help support this work, the collaborative team (led by Andrew Godkin) has recently been awarded a £1.5M Collaborative Award from the Wellcome Trust.

Outside the laboratory, the team like to engage with students and members of the public to talk about their research and what an important role the immune system plays in health and disease.

This is a shortened version of the full article that features in edition 31 of ReMEDy.

Read the full article