Research Projects

While Natural Killer (NK) cells are best known for their contribution to innate immune responses to viral infection and cancer, increasing evidence suggests that they also play a significant role in reproduction. Their function is governed by the integration of activating and inhibitory signals received through an array of diverse receptors. Among these, members of the Killer cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor (KIR) family recognise defined groups of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class I molecules to enable NK cells to sense changes in HLA class I expression following infection or transformation, as well as having a role in mediating placental invasion during pregnancy. Curiously, while the function of inhibitory KIR is well characterised, the role and regulation of activating KIR remains poorly understood despite both being thought to recognise similar or overlapping HLA ligands. This project will therefore examine how NK cells expressing activating or inhibitory KIR differentially respond to HLA loss induced by cytomegalovirus-encoded viral evasins, and whether this response is impacted by the co-expression of other receptors or ligands associated with infection or pregnancy. This project will pair a number of immunological methods including in vitro assays of primary human NK cells and flow cytometric analysis, along with molecular and cellular techniques such as lentiviral transduction of cell lines.

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