Summary
Prof. Rosemary Boyton is Head of Lung Immunology, Adult Infectious Disease, Department of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine. Prof. Boyton works on the molecular immunology of infectious, allergic and autoimmune inflammation through patient based studies and TCR, HLA class II, lung targeted, inducible (Cre/Lox) and reporter transgenic models. Prof. Boyton studies the interplay between pathogen, host microbiota and innate and adaptive immune mechanisms in the regulation of inflammation.
Current research areas include: adaptive immunity in Zika virus and Chikungunya virus infection; adaptive immunity in infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei, B cepacia and B. multivorans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus fumigatus; functional correlates of gut and lung microbiota and immune phenotype; lung autoimmunity; stem cells in chronic lung infection; regulation of NK cell responses by activating and inhibitory killer cell immunoglobulin-like (KIR) receptors and understanding how pathogen and self-peptide can modulate NK cell function through altering levels of NK cell activation/inhibition; the role of T cell receptor structure in effector function; correlates of protection in infection and vaccine studies.
Prof. Boyton is a Principal Investigator in the MRC & Asthma UK centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma. Dr Boyton is on the editorial board of Clinical & Experimental Immunology. Prof. Boyton is a member of the Versus Arthritis UK College of Experts.
Prof. Boyton is an Honorary Consultant Physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. Prof. Boyton has specialist clinical expertise in lung infection (including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), Aspergillus fumigatus), bronchiectasis and host immunity to infection.
The research is supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Wellcome Trust, Innovate UK, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH NIAID), Asthma UK, MS Society, Versus Arthritis UK, Welton Foundation and NIHR.
With Professor Danny Altmann and Prof. Francois Balloux, Prof. Rosemary Boyton hosted a meeting at The Royal Society, London called "Human evolution, migration and history revealed by genetics, immunity and infection". This meeting offered a journey from molecules to history, bringing together geneticists, immunologists, anthropologists and historians. Infection has been the most potent evolutionary force in human history, eliminating genes offering poor resistance and selecting for new mutations conferring protection against a threat. The meeting addressed the issue of how genetics can help us understand natural selection, human evolution and migration over the past 70,000 years.
Easter Island
Speakers and Chairs included: Professor Mark Achtman, Professor Danny Altmann, Dr Kristian Andersen, Dr Francois Balloux, Professor Luigi Cavalli- Sforza, Professor Marc Feldmann FRS, Professor Marcelo Fernández-Viña, Dr Sebastien Gagneux, Professor Adrian Hill, Professor Nina Jablonski, Professor Mark Jobling, Professor John Novembre, Dr Stephen Oppenheimer, Professor Peter Parham FRS, Dr Alice Roberts, Professor Erik Thorsby, Professor Eske Willerslev, Dr Sarah Williams-Blangero
Publications
Journals
Abhishek A, Boyton RJ, McKnight A, et al., 2022, Effects of temporarily suspending low- dose methotrexate treatment for 2 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster on vaccine response in immunosuppressed adults with inflammatory conditions: protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial and nested mechanistic substudy (Vaccine Response On/Off Methotrexate (VROOM) study), Bmj Open, Vol:12, ISSN:2044-6055
Gois BM, Peixoto RF, Guerra-Gomes IC, et al., 2022, Regulatory T cells in acute and chronic human Chikungunya infection, Microbes and Infection, Vol:24, ISSN:1286-4579
Alexander JL, Kennedy NA, Ibraheim H, et al., 2022, COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibody responses in immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease (VIP): a multicentre, prospective, case-control study, The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Vol:7, ISSN:2468-1253, Pages:342-352
Lin S, Kennedy NA, Saifuddin A, et al., 2022, Antibody decay, T cell immunity and breakthrough infections following two SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses in inflammatory bowel disease patients treated with infliximab and vedolizumab, Nature Communications, Vol:13, ISSN:2041-1723
Altmann DM, Boyton RJ, 2022, COVID-19 vaccination: The road ahead, Science, Vol:375, ISSN:0036-8075, Pages:1127-1132