Biography:
Emily is a PhD student in Dr James Thaventhiran's group. She graduated from Imperial College London in 2020 with a BSc in Biological Sciences (first-class honours). During the summer following the second year of her degree, she completed a placement in the NHS BT Component Development Lab where she worked on a project assessing the viability of a whole blood product for use on the London Air Ambulance.
Research Interests:
The fast roll-out of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 played a large role in reducing disease mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is variation in the response to vaccination displayed by different individuals.
Emily's research looks at groups at risk of a poor response to vaccination, from those with inborn errors of immunity to those with severe obesity. The aim of this work is to assess the protection against SARS-CoV-2 provided by vaccination in these groups and look specifically at the adaptive immune responses providing this protection. Understanding the mechanisms leading to the weakened immune response to vaccination in patient groups is key to providing improved protection from disease and negative disease outcomes.
Emily's work forms part of two large collaborations, the SCORPIO and PITCH projects which respectively concern the response to vaccination in individuals with severe obesity and the T-cell response to vaccination.
