Summary
I am the Head of the Section and Professor of Paediatric Infectious Disease, and also an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. My research focuses on the interactions between hosts and pathogens which result in severe infectious diseases, particularly severe malaria. I am interested in understanding why some people get very ill and die from malaria, whilst others have a less severe illness. I am also interested in applying these findings to improve diagnosis and treatment of severe malaria and other infectious diseases. My group uses a variety of approaches, ranging from clinical studies and transcriptomics, to in vitro and in vivo models.
Together with Prof Halidou Tinto, I lead an NIHR Global Health Research Group on Digital Diagnostics for African Health Systems. This multidisciplinary initiative aims to develop innovative diagnostic tools to tackle malaria and other infectious diseases in Africa: https://www.digitaldiagnostics4africa.org/
I am part of the EU-Horizon 2020 DIAMONDS (https://www.diamonds2020.eu/) consortium which seeks to develop personalized management strategies for children with febrile illness based on new diagnostic tests.
I am co-convener of the Imperial College Network of Excellence in Malaria, an interdisciplinary network of more than 100 malaria researchers at Imperial College working together to eradicate malaria: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/network-of-excellence-in-malaria/.
I teach on the BSc courses in Global Health and Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, and MSc courses in Immunology and Paediatrics, and short courses in Paediatric Infectious Diseases.
You can access some of our published articles for free with the links below:
This article highlights the challenges of severe malaria: "Piecing together the puzzle of severe malaria" Published in Science Translational Medicine
This article describes the use of dual RNA-sequencing to provide an integrated view of host-pathogen interactions in severe malaria:
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
McArdle AJ, Vito O, Patel H, et al., 2021, Treatment of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, New England Journal of Medicine, Vol:385, ISSN:0028-4793, Pages:11-22
Georgiadou A, Naidu P, Walsh S, et al., 2021, Localized release of matrix metallopeptidase 8 in fatal cerebral malaria, Clinical & Translational Immunology, Vol:10, ISSN:2050-0068, Pages:1-7
Mousa A, Al-Taiar A, Anstey NM, et al., 2020, The impact of delayed treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria on progression to severe malaria: a systematic review and a pooled multicentre individual-patient meta-analysis, PLOS Medicine, Vol:17, ISSN:1549-1277, Pages:1-28
Amulic B, Moxon C, Cunnington A, 2020, A more granular view of neutrophils in malaria, Parasitology Today, Vol:36, ISSN:0169-4758, Pages:501-503
Knackstedt S, Georgiadou A, Apel F, et al., 2019, Neutrophil extracellular traps drive inflammatory pathogenesis in malaria, Science Immunology, Vol:4, ISSN:2470-9468, Pages:1-17
Levin M, Cunnington AJ, Wilson C, et al., 2019, Effects of saline or albumin fluid bolus in resuscitation: evidence from re-analysis of the FEAST trial, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:7, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:581-593
Georgiadou A, Lee HJ, Walther M, et al., 2019, Modelling pathogen load dynamics to elucidate mechanistic determinants of host-Plasmodium falciparum interactions, Nature Microbiology, Vol:4, ISSN:2058-5276, Pages:1592-1602
Lee HJ, Georgiadou A, Walther M, et al., 2018, Integrated pathogen load and dual transcriptome analysis of systemic host-pathogen interactions in severe malaria, Science Translational Medicine, Vol:10, ISSN:1946-6234, Pages:1-17
Lee HJ, Georgiadou A, Otto T, et al., 2018, Transcriptomic studies in malaria – a paradigm for investigation of systemic host-pathogen interactions, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, Vol:82, ISSN:1092-2172
Evans C, Orf K, Horvath E, et al., 2015, Impairment of neutrophil oxidative burst in children with sickle cell disease is associated with heme oxygenase-1, Haematologica - the Hematology Journal, Vol:100, ISSN:0390-6078, Pages:1508-1516
Cunnington AJ, Riley EM, Walther M, 2013, Stuck in a rut? Reconsidering the role of parasite sequestration in severe malaria syndromes, Trends in Parasitology, Vol:29, ISSN:1471-4922, Pages:585-592
Cunnington AJ, Walther M, Riley EM, 2013, Piecing Together the Puzzle of Severe Malaria, Science Translational Medicine, Vol:5, ISSN:1946-6234
Cunnington AJ, Njie M, Correa S, et al., 2012, Prolonged Neutrophil Dysfunction after Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Is Related to Hemolysis and Heme Oxygenase-1 Induction, Journal of Immunology, Vol:189, ISSN:0022-1767, Pages:5336-5346
Cunnington AJ, de Souza JB, Walther M, et al., 2012, Malaria impairs resistance to Salmonella through heme- and heme oxygenase-dependent dysfunctional granulocyte mobilization, Nature Medicine, Vol:18, ISSN:1078-8956, Pages:120-127