The inflammasome in pathogenic and inflammatory disease is a Research Project for the Pattern Recognition Receptors and Inflammation Research Group, under the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases.

Project Leader

ciiid-picThe discovery that the prototypic inflammatory IL-1 cytokine family is enzymatically matured by the inflammasome complex has fundamentally altered our understanding of the initiation and progression of a multitude to diseases. We have found that the inflammasome plays a crucial role in the hyperinflammatory state induced by pathogens (pathogenic Influenza A viruses- IAV) and sterile chronic inflammation (cardiovascular disease) using both molecular biology and gene-deficient mice. Our projects investigate how pathogenic IAV activates the inflammasome and drives the inflammatory response characteristic of these pathogenic strains using cell biology and mouse models of infection.

Collaborators:
A/Prof Grant Drummond (Monash University)
Prof Nick Gay (Cambridge University, UK)
Prof Doug Golenbock (University of Massachusetts, USA)
Prof Bostjan Kobe (University of Queensland)
Prof Eicke Latz (University of Bonn, Germany)
Dr Julie McAuley and Prof Lorena Brown (University of Melbourne)
Prof Luke O’Neill (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Prof Paul Hertzog and Brendan Jenkins (CiiiD)