Nicola Harris

We investigate how the organisms most commonly inhabiting the mammalian intestine, the microbiota and helminth parasites, interact with the host immune system. Our ongoing projects investigate how cells associtated with the type 2 immune system (alternativelyy activated macrophages, eosinophls, ILC2s and Th2 cells) function to:

i) maintain tissue architeture and impact on intestinal function in the healthy state,

ii) provide the host with adequate protection against the infection with large numbers of intestinal helminths,

iii) promotes wound healing and prevents excessive inflammation following helminth infection.

We also strive to better understand how helminth infection impacts on the intestinal microbiome and the consequences of this interactions on health of the mammlain health. This work is based on our published studies showing that the helminth-microbial interactions can prevent allergic asthma in mice. We believe this finding may explain the absence of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (allergy, IBD) in human communities endemic for helminths and that investigating helminth-microbioal interactions furhter will lead to the identification of novel microbial-based therapeatics for a wide range of inflammatory disorders.

We are currently seeking motivated and talented honors and PhD students