Cellular Communication

Adapting To Life In The Liver

Our Research

Our Lab

Pears Building, UCL


We are pleased to be working alongside colleagues in the new state-of-the-art Pears Building, Institute of Immunity & Transplantation, UCL.

Since opening in Summer 2021, the IIT has brought together world leading scientists, academic clinicians, and clinical trial specialists, with the primary aim of achieving the ambitious goal of becoming an international centre of excellence for immunology research to directly improve human health.

Our home in the IIT delivers spacious, light, and airy architecturally intriguing laboratory space and open plan, collaborative office space. The Institute provides productive partnerships between basic research and the wealth of clinical specimens from the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust due to its location and the drive of the people involved.

Something important to me, the cutting-edge laboratories have been specifically designed to not only facilitate high impact immunological research but to be environmentally friendly. The building itself has been fitted with solar panels to generate electricity for its running and a ‘brown’ roof to provide habitats for local wildlife.





Pears Building

Our Research

The liver is our largest internal organ that acts as a central hub for many physiological processes. Accordingly, immune responses within the liver are tightly controlled to prevent unnecessary organ damage. Although the liver has an unrivalled ability to regenerate when injured, persistent injury or inflammation can lead to the build-up of scar tissue as it attempts to repair. The build-up of such scar tissue (largely made up of extracellular matrix proteins) can results in liver dysfunction and the development of fibrosis/cirrhosis. But why do we care? Since 2018, liver fibrosis (and associated chronic liver disease) features in the top ten causes of premature death in the UK and kills individuals ~19 years younger than cancer or heart disease.

The liver is home to a number of 'residents', that provide specialised immune-surveillance and protection. We recently described a population of long-lived, tissue-resident T cells that are equipped with the necessary armoury to control hepatotropic infections, and showed that they can adapt phenotypically and functionally depending on cues from their microenvironment.

Our Lab Royal Free FACS Machine

In addition, the liver has a unique population of stromal cells, that when exposed to chronic injury become the master regulators of fibrosis. It is these overactivated stromal cells that differentiate into myofibroblasts that then produce excessive amounts of extracellular matrix proteins, causing the liver to increase in stiffness and functionality to ultimately deteriorate.

Here in the Pallett lab we are interested in understanding how tissue-resident T cells and the underlying stromal cells ‘co-operate and communicate’ in the setting of fibrosis. We are particularly focussing on how these ‘local intrahepatic cells’ interact in both the healthy and diseased human liver, asking questions such as “can tissue-resident T cell contribute to tissue damage and/or tissue repair?” and “whether we can we harness the pathways involved to develop improved treatments for patients?”.

Our Team



Laura Pallett

Principal Investigator

I have a degree in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Manchester (UK) and a PhD from UCL in Viral Immunology. I love all things liver immunology, resident T cells and immunometabolism. I can’t let go though of topics I have previously worked on, so still like to stay in touch with the latest in HBV immunology and general concepts in T cell dysfunction.

Guilty Pleasure: Coronation Street (don’t judge me too much!)

George Finney

Postdoctoral Researcher

I have degrees in Cell Biology from the University of Stirling, and in Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases from the University of Glasgow. I've recently gained a PhD in viral immunology from the University of Glasgow. Within the field of lung immunology, I'm fascinated by memory T cells, immune-stromal cell communication and how these concepts link together. From the lung to the liver, I'm all about how the tissue microenvironment shapes T cells.

Guilty Pleasure: Taking pictures of food - I just can't help myself!

Beth James

Postdoctoral Researcher

I completed a BSc in Biomedical Sciences (University of Lincoln) before undertaking a MSc and PhD in Immunology and Immunotherapy at the University of Birmingham. During this, I developed a keen interest around the non- parenchymal cells within the liver and enjoy any opportunity to use different imaging techniques to explore their interactions.

Guilty Pleasure: Embarrassingly, far too many Star Wars Lego sets for an ‘adult’

Stephanie Kucykowicz

PhD Student

I completed my MSc degree in Parasitology and BSc degree in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University, Montreal. After crossing the Atlantic, I joined Prof. Mala Maini’s lab to expand my knowledge and skills in the field of immunology and developed an interest in T cells and their role in regulating anti-tumour responses within the liver. This led me to start my PhD, combining forces between Laura and Mala, to study how the interactions with other immune cells and the tumour microenvironment can shape the T cell responses in HCC.

Guilty Pleasure: Watching Friends - I never get bored of it!

Stephanie Ng

PhD Student



I hold a degree in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Manchester and a MSc in Cancer from UCL. My research journey so far has been driven by a strong interest in understanding the interactions between immune cells and the tumour microenvironment (TME), with a focus on advancing cancer therapies. During my MSc thesis, I explored a new target antigen for CAR T-cell therapy against mature B-cell malignancies, deepening my interest in this field. I am now eager to extend my research to explore CAR T-cell therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), aiming to tackle the challenges posed by the HCC-TME to CAR T-cells. I am co-supervised by Dr Anna Schurich (KCL).

Guilty Pleasure: Daily coffee shop visits for multiple cups of matcha a day!

Daniel Brown Romero

PhD Student

I have a degree in Biology from the University Autónoma de Madrid and an MSc in Immunology from Imperial College London. I originally became interested in liver immunology whilst investigating the influence of the gut microbiome on HCC through immunometabolic changes in innate populations within the gut-liver axis at IMDEA. I have always been fascinated by anything immunometabolism related and how the tissue microenvironment shapes immune responses.

Guilty Pleasure: Spending all my money on my vinyl collection, it’s becoming a real problem.

Ginevra Pistocchi

Research Technician

I have a degree in Medical Biosciences from Imperial College London and have just completed my MRes in Experimental and Translational Immunology at UCL. During my Masters, I joined Dr Leo Swadling’s lab, where I investigated the heterogeneity of memory T- cells residing in the liver. That experience introduced me to the world of liver immunology, and I developed an interest in tissue residency and the mechanisms of the liver microenvironment that influence it.

Guilty Pleasure: Spending all my money on my vinyl collection, it’s becoming a real problem.

Anadita Mathur

Research Technician

I have recently completed my MSc in Immunology at Imperial College London. Prior to that, I pursued a BSc (Hons.) in Biomedical Science at the University of Delhi, India. During my MSc thesis, I investigated spatial lipidomic changes and immune dysregulations in the case of APAP-induced acute liver injury. This research has deepened my interest in liver immunology. Having previously examined the macrophage response in the injured liver, I am now eager to gain a comprehensive understanding of the responses elicited by other innate and adaptive immune cells, such as T-cells and stromal cells, in the context of liver diseases.

Guilty Pleasure: Going grocery shopping every single day. Yes, I intentionally leave out some items during my initial trip so that I can purchase them the next day.

Khadiza Siddika

Research Assistant



I have completed an MSc in Immunology at King’s College London and my BSc Biomedical Science at the University of Westminster. During my MSc research project, I had the opportunity to work in the Schurich Lab at Kings College London and research the impact of B cell lymphoma extracellular vesicles on CAR T cell function. I have thoroughly enjoyed cancer immunology and cellular therapeutics since my undergraduate. Now I will be joining the Pallett and Schurich lab as a Research Assistant to investigate the potential of CAR T cells in liver cancers like HCC.

Guilty Pleasure- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts – my faves

News



In collaboration with two other UKRI Future Leader Fellows (Dr Laura Carter, University of Leeds and Dr Laura Wolz, University of Manchester), Laura co-authored a piece for Nature Careers sharing insights into the many challenges faced by academics juggling caring and career.

We all know travel is a critical part of successful career development in science. But often not discussed is the fact that for every trip, the additional workload for caregivers is high as alternative arrangements must be found, frequently imposing a financial burden on the individual.

While we applaud new initiatives that some research organisations are putting in place we call on Universities, funders and learned societies to invest appropriately and accelerate change to deliver initiatives that genuinely support those with dependent care responsibilities. Current frameworks are not flexible or equitable enough, and are ultimately failing those trying to maintain a sense of balance between caring and career.

To find out more, read the full article here.

The article precedes an upcoming programme of work “Carers in STEMM” from the ‘3 Lauras’ - supported by funding from the FLF Development Network - to collate data on the awareness and implementation of policies designed to support those wishing to balance caring and career as an academic in the UK.

Check CarersinSTEMM to take part.



We are proud to say we have a GOLD LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) award. A huge thank you must be extended to Ginny and Anandita for taking the lead on this and ensuring the lab is continually doing what it can to improve sustainability.

LEAF is a standard set by UCL to improve the sustainability and efficiency of research laboratories. Why do we believe this is important? Research labs are resource intensive - a typical lab will consume 3-10 times more energy per m2 than standard office spaces, so we do our best to make our space more environmentally sustainable.

To read more about LEAF, click here. And for resources and materials to improve your own lab space, click here

Resources

Data Science for Immunologists



As well as our laboratory research, I also have a huge passion for data analytics and data science. With data being generated at ever greater volume and fidelity, advanced analytic techniques are becoming more and more important in immunological research.

With this in mind, I co-authored a book in 2018 called "Data Science for Immunologists", aimed at medical researchers and immunologists introducing key concepts in programming, statistics and machine learning.

You can read more about Data Science for Immunologists here

Talks



Love Immunology, and want to learn more? Check out these fantastic online seminars.

Global Immunotalks (@globalimmuno)

Hosted live each Wednesday 9am PST, 12pm EST, 5pm GMT with a Q&A session with the speakers via Twitter (follow the hashtag #globalimmuno) Or find all previous talks posted on the Global Immunotalks Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/c/GLOBALIMMUNOTALKS

Early Career Immunology Digital Seminar Series (@EarlyImmunology)

Streamed live (and recorded) via Youtube. Subscribe for updates at https://www.earlycareerimmunology.com

Contact Us

laura.pallett (@) ucl.ac.uk