Systems Immunity Research Institute showcases recent successes

Cardiff University’s research into harnessing and understanding the immune system is ensuring global public health.

Cardiff University is proud to have showcased the work of the Systems Immunity Research Institute at a recent event. The institute is a centre of expertise for immunology and immunotherapy. With a focus on cancer, infectious diseases, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, and associated complications, it translates cutting-edge research that transforms the diagnosis, treatment, and quality-of-life for patients. It combines big data and systems biology approaches with wet-lab biology, and clinical and experimental medicine to understand the role that the immune system plays in disease.

The institute’s work is based around 5 research themes:

• Immuno-oncology – The institute’s research is focused on identifying solutions to cancer immunotherapy which benefit a broad range of patients, including immune-modulation strategies ranging from repurposing existing medicines through to modulating the microenvironment within tumours using bespoke virus-based therapeutics.
• Infectious disease and pandemics – The institute’s scientists study the pathogens that cause disease and how the immune system responds to infections. They use these processes to develop technologies such as novel vaccine platforms with the aim of developing strategies to protect us from global infectious threats.
• Multi-morbidities – Patients with chronic illnesses commonly display other longer-term conditions (multimorbidity), affecting their quality of life, response to therapy, and recovery. The institute’s scientists are exploring the mechanisms linking these conditions in cancer, infectious diseases, and immune-mediated conditions to improve patient diagnosis and treatment outcomes.
• Neuroimmunology – The institute’s scientists build upon local strengths in innate immunity and inflammation, dementia genetics, whole system modelling and neuroimaging coupled with computational analysis to identify the molecular mechanisms of neuroinflammatory disorders and design therapeutic interventions for such conditions.
• Data and artificial intelligence - The institute looks to decipher the complex biology of the immune system and advance the discovery of new immune biology and develop diagnostic assays and therapeutics through integrating data from large-scale experimental technologies and the application of Artificial Intelligence.

The event took place on Tuesday 27 June, at Cardiff University’s Glamorgan Building. It showcased the valuable work being undertaken by the institute, and included presentations from each of the co-directors, scientists from the institute, and Early Career Researchers. Guests included researchers, scientists, and clinicians from Cardiff University and NHS.

The System Immunity Research Institute is part of a £5.4 million investment from Cardiff University in five innovation and research institutes to tackle the biggest issues facing society, the economy, and the environment.