ProfessorMohamedShamji

Dr Shamji's group focuses on understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of allergic diseases and mechanisms of allergen specific immunotherapy.

Dr Shamji leads the "National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) Year 12 Work Experience Programme" at Imperial College London. This is a 5 day non-residential programme that aims to provide students with an insight into the exciting world of research that is being conducted at the National heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. They also have the opportunity to meet and shadow the researchers. 

Highlights of Dr Shamji’s groups success at EAACI 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

This year’s European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) in Lisbon (Portugal) was an exciting Congress for the Immunomodulation and Tolerance Group (ITG). Dr. Mohamed Shamji group cutting-edge research was well-received and highlighted with each member presenting their cutting-edge research, pioneering the future of allergen immunotherapy (AIT).

Rebecca Parkin presented her work entitled ‘Nasal allergen neutralizing antibodies correlate closely with tolerated intranasal allergen challenge dose following grass pollen subcutaneous immunotherapy in patients with local allergic rhinitis’ where she demonstrated for the first time the induction of local nasal blocking antibodies following grass pollen immunotherapy in local allergic rhinitis.

Madison Lenormand received a Travel Award from EAACI to showcase her work on the epigenetic changes in the SATB1 gene in FoxP3 Tregs and how that reflects immunetolerance status during grass pollen subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy demonstrating her findings that could provide a new marker of AIT patient response to treatment.

Yi Yi exhibited the immunomodulation of CD4 CXCR5 PD-1 T Follicular Helper (Tfh) and CD4 CXCR5 PD-1 FoxP3 T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cell responses in grass pollen allergy and was awarded a Poster Prize.

Awarded with a British Society of Immunology Travel Award, Max Kirtland presented his PhD project which demonstrated a novel toll-like receptor 7 agonist that can ameliorate phleum pretense induced allergic responses in vitro.

Hanisah Sharif gave a talk on her PhD research project demonstrating the altered chromatin landscape in T follicular cells in seasonal allergic rhinitis and following allergen-specific immunotherapy and winning a prize for her presentation. Abigail Robb was was the recipient of EAACI Travel Grant for her work on immunomodulatory properties of lolium perenne peptides for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Finally, Janice Layhadi arrived with a Travel Award from EAACI then proceeded to give a presentation entitled “The allergenicity and immunogenecity of peanut and house dust mite peptides generated by a novel technology platform: the future of immunotherapy treatments,” as well as “Broad immunoglobulin G repertoire in chronic rhinosinusitits with nasal polyps regulates pro-inflammatory IgE responses” for which she was awarded a prize.

Dr. Shamji led the Scientific Programme Committee as Chair and was elected as Chair of the EAACI Immunotherapy Interest Group, and very excitingly, the Congress Chair for the EAACI 2020 Congress in London (6^th-10^th). The closing ceremony concluded with a passing of the EAACI flag from the Lisbon Congress Chair to the London Congress Chair, Dr. Shamji. We are greatly looking forward to ‘Bridging Innovations into Allergy and Asthma Prevention’ in London next year!