Rebecca Shears

Background

After completing my undergraduate degree in Microbiology at the University of Manchester in 2013, I embarked on a PhD in Parasitology/Immunology supervised by Professor Richard Grencis and Professor Dave Thornton. The aim of my PhD was to identify vaccine candidates for Trichuris parasites, which are gastrointestinal nematodes of medical and veterinary importance.

Current Project

I joined the University of Liverpool in September 2017, where I am a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology. My work will involve studying the interaction between pneumococcus and the host immune system, specifically examining how perturbations of the immune regulation (eg co-infections with other bacteria, viruses and gastrointestinal nematodes) may affect the outcome of infection. Another aspect of my project will be to measure correlates of immunity in human samples in order to identify those at risk of uncontrolled pneumococcal infection.