Background
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology. After obtaining a BSc Honours degree in Immunology at the University of Glasgow, I completed a Masters of Research in Clinical Sciences, specialising in Infection Immunology at the University of Liverpool. In 2013, I moved to Professor Aras Kadioglu’s lab to undertake a PhD studying key virulence factors associated with pathogenicity of Streptococcus pneumoniae African serotype-1.
Project
My research interests are in understanding the host immune response to pneumococcal infection. I am currently working on an MRC Programme Grant examining the role of immune regulation in pneumococcal carriage. The aim of this work is to understand the role of the host immune response pneumococcal carriage and examine how dysregulation of the immune system can leave to the onset of invasive pneumococcal disease.
Publications
Stack G, Jones E, Marsden M, Stacey MA, Snelgrove RJ, Lacaze P, et al. (2015) CD200 Receptor Restriction of Myeloid Cell Responses Antagonizes Antiviral Immunity and Facilitates Cytomegalovirus Persistence within Mucosal Tissue. PLoS Pathog 11(2): e1004641. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1004641
Muhammad S. Ahmed a , Laura C. Jacques a , Waleed Mahallawi a , Francesca Ferrara b , Nigel Temperton b , Nav Upile c , Casey Vaughan c , Ravi Sharma c , Helen Beer d , Katja Hoschler e , Paul S. McNamara f , Qibo Zhang a, Cross-reactive immunity against influenza viruses in children and adults following 2009 pandemic H1N1 infection. Antiviral Research 114 (2015) 106–112
Jacques LC, Panagiotou S, Baltazar M, Senghore M, Khandaker S, Xu R, Bricio-Moreno L, Yang M, Dowson CG, Everett DB, Neill DR, Kadioglu A. Increased pathogenicity of pneumococcal serotype 1 is driven by rapid autolysis and release of pneumolysin. Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 20;11(1):1892. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15751-6. PMID: 32312961; PMCID: PMC7170840.
Shears RK, Jacques LC, Naylor G, Miyashita L, Khandaker S, Lebre F, Lavelle EC, Grigg J, French N, Neill DR, Kadioglu A. Exposure to diesel exhaust particles increases susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal disease. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2020 Apr;145(4):1272-1284.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2019.11.039. Epub 2020 Jan 23. PMID: 31983527; PMCID: PMC7154500.
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