Sophia Davidson

Dr Davidson studies the interplay between genetics, inflammation, and neurodevelopment. She began her research career at the University of Newcastle (Australia), where she investigated the body's inflammatory response to respiratory infections. For her PhD, she moved to the United Kingdom to study at the Francis Crick Research Institute, London. Her research focused on how genetics can influence the body's inflammatory response to the Influenza A virus. Surprisingly, she found that certain aspects of the anti-viral inflammatory response can make the disease worse. This discovery has since influenced clinical trials for both Influenza A virus and COVID-19.

Fascinated by the relationship between our genetics and inflammation, Dr Davidson joined the lab of Professor Seth Masters in 2016 (WEHI) to work on inflammatory diseases caused by genetic mutations. With her team she identified novel pathways of inflammatory signalling triggered by genetic mutations which disrupt cell homeostasis (eg: loss of function mutations in proteasome subunits or COP-I complex components). Her research has identified novel targets for drug development and has been used to design treatment regimens for rare disease patients with currently available anti-inflammatory therapeutics.

Study of monogenic autoinflammatory diseases led her to investigate the role of inflammation in neurodevelopmental disorders. Her research suggests that inflammation might be a common factor in many mutations associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and the Davidson group use genetic editing, induced pluripotent stem cell models, and super resolution imaging to investigate inflammatory pathways activated in neurodevelopmental disorders.