Institute: University of Edinburgh
Biography
Phil studied immunology at Glasgow (BSc) and Cambridge (PhD), where he spent most of his time exploring mechanisms of immune tolerance (how our immune cells ignore harmless microbes and even our own tissues to keep us alive).
Phil moved into malaria research in 2008, and more than 100-years after the discovery that mosquitoes transmit malaria he showed that mosquitoes also regulate disease severity. They do this be resetting expression of the virulence genes that allow malaria parasites to adapt to and damage their mammalian host.
In 2013, Phil moved to Edinburgh to ask how the host in turn learns to live with malaria parasites. Although not harmless, they can trigger an immune response that does far more harm than good and it is increasingly clear that infants quickly learn to tolerate malaria parasites (if you can’t get rid of them at least don’t kill yourself trying).
We explore immune decision-making in human malaria and believe that by studying how children learn to tolerate malaria parasites, we can develop strategies to minimise disease & reduce mortality.
Key Publications
A list of publications can be found here.
Web Links of Interest