I graduated from Cardiff Medical School and after training as a physician went to King’s College London to complete a PhD studying thyroid autoimmunity (or Grave’s disease), with Paul Banga and Alan McGregor. During my time as a PhD student, I developed a longstanding interest in the mechanisms of T cell recognition and activation. For anyone interested in autoimmune disease, this issue of how pathogenic cells get activated is key

Autoimmune inflammation research

Raveney, B, Copland, D, Calder, C, Dick, A & Nicholson, L, 2010, ‘TNFR1 signalling is a critical checkpoint for developing macrophages that control T-cell proliferation’. Immunology, vol 131., pp. 340 - 349 Khera, T, Dick, A & Nicholson, L, 2010, ‘Fragile X-related protein FXR1 controls post-transcriptional suppression of lipopolysaccharide-induced tumour necrosis factor-alpha production by transforming growth factor-beta1’. FEBS J, vol 277., pp. 2754 - 2765 Raveney, B, Copland, D, Dick, A & Nicholson, L, 2009, ‘TNFR1-Dependent Regulation of Myeloid Cell Function in Experimental Autoimmune Uveoretinitis’. The Journal of Immunology, vol 183., pp. 2321 - 2329 Kerr, E, Raveney, B, Copland, D, Dick, A & Nicholson, L, 2008, ‘Analysis of Retinal Cellular Infiltrate in Experimental Autoimmune Uveoretinitis Reveals Multiple Regulatory Cell Populations’. Journal of Autoimmunity, vol 31., pp. 354 - 361 Kuchroo, V, Anderson, A, Waldner, H, Munder, M, Bettelli, E & Nicholson, L, 2002, ‘T cell response in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE): Role of self and cross-reactive antigents in shaping, tuning, and regulating the autopathogenic T cell repertoire’. Annual Review of Immunology, vol 20., pp. 101 - 123