We are working at trying to understand how the immune system is controlled and how it goes wrong in disease.

When the immune system doesn't function correctly, it can lead to cancer, autoimmunity or, as we are particularly interested in, allergy.

Our clinical research is focused on food allergy and food allergic diseases such as Eosinophilic Esophagitis. We combine epidemiology, patient samples and disease models to try and better understand why people are developing food allergy, what causes the reactions, and how we can develop new therapies for the treatment of patients.

We study the biology of mast cells and basophils. These cells are important in allergy due to being able to bind the antibody IgE, which is commonly increased in allergy. Exposure to allergens triggers the release of many potent mediators from these cells, including histamine. We are interested in understanding how these cells develop, are activated, and how their products influence immune responses.