Functional heterogeneity of human mononuclear phagocytes in health and disease

Dr Haniffa is a dermatologist whose research programme focuses on understanding how dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages, a family of cells collectively known as mononuclear phagocytes, regulate human immune responses. She will exploit functional genomics and comparative biology approaches to define the contribution of mononuclear phagocytes to peripheral-tissue homeostasis and immune responses during pathogen challenge, cancer and inflammation. Her overall aim is to develop new strategies to manipulate the host immune response to improve vaccine design and immunotherapy.