At the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Prof Alex Clarke leads a team which studies the link between cellular metabolism and immunity. His group investigates how cells receive and process energy, with a focus on understanding how this contributes to inflammatory disease. Defining how cellular metabolism affects the immune response could lead to much-needed new treatment strategies for these life-limiting conditions.
This European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant will enable Alex to further study cellular metabolism in lymphoid tissues, the specialised tissues and organs (like lymph nodes and tonsils) in which most immune responses occur. Within lymphoid tissues, Alex will look at germinal centres (GCs) – the sites where B cells mature and gain the ability to produce antibodies in response to infection or autoimmune pathology. He will start by exploring the question of how dynamic changes in the shape of B cell mitochondria in the GC affect antibody production, and thereby control immune and autoimmune processes.
ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to scientists who have recently created an independent research team which they wish to strengthen. This award builds on Alex’s Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship, which he received in 2018, and which enabled him to establish his group at the Kennedy Institute. Alex leads a group of six researchers, including clinical DPhil students and fellows.
About the award, Alex said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted and very honoured to receive an ERC Consolidator Grant. This support will allow us to tackle some really fundamental questions about how cellular metabolism shapes immune responses, with the long-term goal of improving treatments for people living with autoimmune disease. I’m extremely grateful to my current and previous lab members, and to the ongoing support of the Kennedy Institute, without whom this work would not be possible.’
Professor Dame Fiona Powrie, Director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, said: ‘Since establishing his group at the Kennedy Institute seven years ago, Alex has driven an exciting programme in discovery research. I am delighted that Alex has been awarded this highly competitive grant, which will allow him to continue his impressive upward trajectory as a leader in cellular metabolism and immunity. Congratulations Alex!’