Course Lead - Professor Benjamin Willcox

Ben is Professor of Molecular Immunology at the Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham (UoB), of which he is Director. He leads a research group investigating immune receptor recognition. His research focuses on understanding how unconventional T cells recognise abnormal target cells, and on immune regulation within the tumour microenvironment. His work is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, and the Rosetrees Trust, and he leads the University's Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Centre, a collaborative grouping of Birmingham-based researchers focussed on harnessing the immune response to fight cancer. Ben collaborates with colleagues at UoB, at other universities and in industry to develop novel immunotherapy concepts towards the clinic. He sits on Cancer Resarch UK's Astra Zeneca Alliance Laboratory's Target Selection Committee that assesses novel candidate targets for therapeutic antibody development, and leads the British Society for Immunology's UK-wide Tumour Immunology Affinity Group. Ben has a strong commitment to teaching, and in addition to supervision of PhD research students, he teaches on UoB Masters' programmes, including the MRes in Cancer Sciences, and the MSc in Immunology and Immunotherapy. He is committed to supporting patient and public involvement and engagement in the research agenda.

Email: b.willcox@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Deputy Course Lead - Dr Fiyaz Mohammed

Fiyaz is a Lecturer in Biomedical Structural Biology at the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham (UoB). His research focuses on investigating cell surface receptor/ligand interactions using X-ray crystallography, with a focus on immune receptor recognition and immunotherapy development. He has published numerous research papers on clinically relevant immune receptor recognition events including those underpinning alloreactive T cell receptor/peptide-MHC recognition, and T cell recognition of post-translationally modified peptides. His is currently focussed on understanding the molecular and structural basis of gamma delta T cell recognition. Fiyaz is an experienced lecturer and contributes substantially to UoB Master’s programmes, including the MRes in Cancer Sciences, and the MSc in Immunology and Immunotherapy. Fiyaz is lead representative for Equality Diversity and Inclusion for the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy.

Email: f.mohammed@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Dr Heather Long

Heather is an Associate Professor in Immunology in the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham. She has a strong research background in the immune response to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and her long-term interest is in developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of EBV-associated and non-virus-associated lymphomas. In particular, her group is focussed on understanding the specificity and function of immune cells with the greatest potential to target lymphoma. In addition, she has applied her viral immunology skills to the study of T cell responses to SARS-CoV2. She is funded by Blood Cancer UK and Rosetrees Trust. Heather is a highly experienced educator and science communicator, who teaches on several Masters level courses (MRes Cancer Sciences and MSc Immunology and Immunotherapy) and also to public engagement programmes in the cancer immunology and immunotherapy area for many years.

Email: h.m.long@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Dr Jianmin Zuo

Jianmin is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham. His main research interest is in natural killer (NK) cell responses against cancer and infection. He focusses partly on the role NK cells play in stem cell transplantation, with the aim of optimising immune reconstitution and improving clinical outcomes for patients. Secondly he aims to study impaired NK function in leukaemia patients, in order to ultimately improve NK function and to develop new NK-based therapeutic approaches against cancer. Jianmin is an experienced educator in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, and contributes substantially to several Masters-level courses in this area. He maintains a long-standing commitment to patient and public involvement and engagement in the cancer immunology and immunotherapy area.

Email: j.zuo@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Dr Graham Taylor

Graham is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham. His research interest focussed on immunology of viral diseases and cancer, with an aim of harnessing the immune system to develop more effective patient treatments. His work has led to development of a therapeutic cancer vaccine that has undergone testing in several clinical trials. Graham has expertise in antigen processing and presentation, in vaccine design, and in tumour immunology, with a particular focus on cancers driven by Epstein-Barr virus, including Hodgkin’s lymphoma, gastric cancer, and diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Graham is an enthusiastic educator in the area of immunology and immunotherapy, and maintains strong contributions to a range of relevant masters level programmes. In addition, he is a highly experienced science communicator, and has contributed to public engagement in this area for many years. He is committed to strong public involvement and engagement in research.

Email: g.s.taylor@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator and Clinical Academic Lead - Professor Gary Middleton

Gary is Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Birmingham. His research interest is focussed on development of targeted therapy approaches for cancer, and in understanding and exploiting regulation of anti-tumour immunity in cancer. Gary is a highly experienced medical oncologist, with decades of experience treating a range of malignancies, including chiefly lung cancer, but also mesothelioma, and colorectal cancer. Gary’s clinical work is based at University Hospitals Birmingham, where he maintains a lung cancer clinic. Gary translational work has included devising and leading the National Lung Cancer Matrix trial, which comprised the national stratified medicine programme 2, and was the largest stratified medicine trial of its type in the world. He also regularly treats patients with immune checkpoint blockade, and is experienced in managing treatment of immune related adverse events following treatment onset. Gary’s research work is currently partly focussed on understanding the immune mechanisms underlying such adverse events, with the aim of developing diagnostic biomarkers that allow identification of patients that are likely to incur major treatment toxicity, and those who can safely receive treatment. Gary leads the Birmingham Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, and is involved in numerous national expert review panels for cancer funding. He is an experienced science communicator and educator, with involvement in several masters and PhD programmes and long-standing contributions to public engagement. He is also highly committed to nurturing the next generation of medics in the area of cancer and medical oncology.

Email: g.middleton@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Dr Nick Jones

Nick is an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, with a longstanding research interest in dissecting the immune response to transplanted organs, with a view to manipulating regulatory immune cell subsets and targeting T cell costimulatory molecules to facilitate tolerance induction and graft acceptance. His research findings have been published in both transplant-related and general immunological journals. His work has received substantial support from prominent organizations such as Kidney Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust. Furthermore, Nick is a highly skilled educator, fulfilling roles as the Programme Lead for the University of Birmingham's MSc Immunology and Immunotherapy course and as a module leader in the BMedSc Clinical Sciences program. He is also involved in teaching various programs at both Undergraduate and Master's levels, including the MRes Cancer Sciences, BSc Biomedical Sciences, MBChB, and MPharm Pharmacy programs.

Email: n.d.jones@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Mr Neeraj Lal

Neeraj is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Surgery, with his primary research interest lying in the immuno-oncology of colorectal cancer. His objective is to develop innovative immunotherapeutic strategies for this prevalent type of cancer. Following the completion of his CRUK-funded PhD on the immunogenomics of colorectal cancer, he took up an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer position in Professor Andrew Beggs' group within the Academic Department of Surgery. His aims to further advance his work in the field of immunogenomics and effectively apply immunotherapeutics to colorectal cancer. Currently, Neeraj is dedicated to creating and applying cancer organoid and immune cell co-culture models. These models serve the purpose of identifying and investigating novel targets for cancer immunotherapies. He has secured research funding from various funding bodies, including the National Institute of Health and Care Research, Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, and the Royal College of Surgeons (England). Additionally, he serves as a co-investigator on the ORB-AZ and Target ID studies, as well as the ROSSINI II Randomized Clinical Trial. Neeraj is also an experienced teaching practitioner who has delivered lectures in various undergraduate and postgraduate programs, including BSc Biomedical Sciences, MBChB, and MRes Cancer Sciences, as well as a TEDx talk ('How our generation will cure cancer') in 2016.

Email: n.lal.4@bham.ac.uk

Academic Biography

Course Educator - Dr Lalit Pallan

Lalit is a consultant medical oncologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham specialising in skin cancer, and an Honorary Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Birmingham (UoB). He completed a PhD in 2016 at the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy at UoB on the immunobiology of Merkel Cell Carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of virus-driven skin cancer. In 2019-2020 he was a Cameron Fellow in Medical Oncology at Melanoma Institute Australia, Sydney, Australia. Lalit regularly manages the treatment of melanoma patients with systemic therapies and has published on topics, including immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment outcomes and the clinical management of post-ICB immune related serious adverse events, such as hepatitis, and neurological complications.

Email: lalit.pallan@uhb.nhs.uk

Academic Biography

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