Started in 1982
Celebrating over 35 years of science
Over 330 publications to date
Multi-disciplinary international team
© TRIG image
Our group is a dynamic, multi-disciplinary international team of around 12 scientists,clinician scientists and students. We are dedicated to translating our research from the lab into the clinic by finding new ways to diagnose and treat patients, with the aim of optimising patient care, and prolonging the life of a donated organ.
With this in mind, we are investigating how :
- to increase the selectivity of immunosuppression such that only the destructive responses the immune system makes against the transplant are suppressed
- to predict when the rejection is going to happen more reliably to enable anti-rejection treatment to be started before the transplant has actually been damaged by the immune response
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we may be able to reduce immunosuppression in renal transplant recipients with the use of regulatory T cells (Treg) in a pioneering clinical trial of cellular therapy in renal transplantation (The TWO Study)
Advances in each of these areas would allow immunosuppressive drug therapy to be tailored to the specific needs of the individual transplant recipient. In other words, the development of personalised or precision medicine for each individual transplant patient.
Our work is supported with substantial funding from Kidney Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, and the European Union. We also receive funding from RESTORE (Burn and Wound Research), OHSRC (Oxfordshire Health Research Services Committee), the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the University of Oxford Medical Research Fund - we are grateful to all our funders for allowing us to continue with our research.
Our team
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Fadi Issa
Clinician Scientist
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Joanna Hester
Senior Research Fellow
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Monica Dolton
Project Manager
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Rebeca Arroyo Hornero
DPhil student
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George Adigbli
DPhil student
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Kento Kawai
MSc student
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Alaa Alzhrani
DPhil student
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Hisashi Hashimoto
DPhil student
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Kathryn Wood
Emeritus Professor of Immunology
The Andrew Bushell Memorial Travel Fund Awards
Dr Andrew Bushell, a key member of the Wood Lab / TRIG passed away in December 2016 after a period of illness.
As a way to celebrate Andrew’s career and all of his contributions to the success of the group a travel fund has been set up to help provide travel bursaries for graduate students and early career researchers to attend meetings. Andrew was passionate about educating and training young scientists and was very proud of the achievements of all of the students and fellows that have been members of the Wood Lab/TRIG over the years.
If you would like to contribute to the fund please follow the link below.
www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/bushell-memorial-travel
If you would like any further information about the fund, please contact Monica Dolton: monica.dolton@nds.ox.ac.uk
Thinking of becoming an ACF? Want to know what it's like?
See David Fawkner-Corbett's profile and read about his research.
Congratulations to ...
Dr Fadi Issa who has been chosen as the Winning Recipient in Nanostring's GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler Grant Program, from over 100 entries worldwide.
Dr Issa said: “Spatial genomics has the potential to make a major impact in transplantation research. Digital Spatial Profiling will allow us to collect comprehensive biological information from our precious tissue samples, including highly informative topographic data. We’re currently leading a clinical trial of a novel cellular therapy, regulatory T cells in renal transplantation, and we believe DSP will be invaluable in understanding patient response and guiding future decisions in this important program.”
The read more about the prize see:
https://nanostring.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nanostring-announces-university-oxford-selected-winning
Dr Joanna Hester who has been awarded a grant from the Celgene Research Fellowship programme for her work on low dose Treg combination therapy.
Dr Fadi Issa who has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship
Rebeca Arroyo Hornero who has been awarded two prizes in April 2018; the "750 Prize in the Sciences" from Balliol College. These prizes for graduate students were established through the generosity of a Balliol Old Member to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the College. Rebeca also won the 1st prize at the Oxford Immunology Symposium. She won both prizes for her poster "Co-stimulatory modulation of human regulatory T cells for enhanced immunotherapy".
Prateek Katti, who won "Best Oral Presentation" at the NDS Awayday on 1st February 2018 for his presentation.
Rebeca Arroyo Hornero who was awarded the first travel award from the Andrew Bushell Memorial Travel Fund - Rebeca will use the travel funds to attend the 5th European Congress of Immunology and has submitted an abstract entitled: “Co-stimulatory modulation of human regulatory T cells for enhanced immunotherapy”
Monica Dolton who won the "NDS Employee of the Year" award in February 2018.
The TWO Study
A multi-disciplinary team led by TRIG has been awarded a grant of c£2.5m to undertake a pioneering clinical trial of cellular therapy in renal transplantation. The TWO Study aims to assess the feasibility of reducing immunosuppression in renal transplant recipients with the use of regulatory T cells (Treg). The trial will be led by Dr Fadi Issa (PI), Dr Paul Harden (Co-PI & Clinical Lead), Professor Peter Friend (Chief Investigator) and Dr Joanna Hester (Immune Biology Lead), together with Professor Giovanna Lombardi of King’s College London, senior researchers from TRIG, the Oxford Transplant Centre, the University’s Surgical Trials Intervention Unit, Oxford University Innovation, and the BRC GMP facility at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The trial aims to recruit 68 patients over a three-year period, with those receiving the cellular therapy donating a unit of blood for isolation of Tregs. Isolated Treg will then be expanded in a purpose-built GMP facility at Guy's Hospital in London. The function of kidney transplants will be assessed and the amount of drug-based immunosuppression reduced accordingly. Patients will be closely monitored and potential early markers of improved immune function will be determined using advanced assessment techniques.
For more information about the project please contact Monica Dolton, Project Manager monica.dolton@nds.ox.ac.uk
The Andrew Bushell Memorial Travel Fund Awards - First Awards Made
We offer many congratulations to Rebeca Arroyo Hornero and Jessica Padley who are the first two recipients of the Andrew Bushell Memorial Travel Fund Awards.
Rebeca is in the last year of her DPhil programme studying a human cell population, named regulatory 
T cells, that play an important role in transplant tolerance, autoimmunity and cancer. Her research aims to identify new strategies to increase regulatory T cell potency in order to generate a more potent therapy for clinical use. In particular, Rebeca is studying how modulation of the CD27/CD70 pathway may allow for the generation of a purer regulatory T cell population with enhanced suppressive properties.
During her time as a DPhil student, she has attended several national and international conferences and has had the opportunity to present her research and to establish new collaborations.
Rebeca says "I am very grateful for the support from the Andrew Bushell Memorial Travel Fund that I have been awarded which will allow me to attend the European Congress of Immunology conference, making it possible to present and extend my research project. Being close to the end of my DPhil, conferences such as this will help me to expand my knowledge of novel directions for the next steps of my research career"
Jessica is a 5th year medical student studying at Pembroke College Cambridge. She has always been fasci
Jessica hopes to gain a place on the academic foundation training programme. She is passionate about research and improving care for patients. She aspires to become a nephrologist and to continue her research into the immunology of renal transplants. Jessica will use her award to attend the BTS conference where she has had a poster accepted.