Jack Easton

UK Health Security Agency, UK

Tel: 07903955821

Email: jack.easton@ukhsa.gov.uk

VALIDATE Role:

Network Affiliate

Research Keywords:

TB, BCG, small animal models

Biography:

My current research career has been heavily immunology-focused, specifically the immune response to tuberculosis, its dissemination in different organs and its co-infection with cytomegalovirus.  My first experience of research was during my year in employment at Public Health England in the tuberculosis non-human primate model, vaccine development and evaluation group.  Here I was given the project to explore associations between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and TB disease susceptibility in macaques, looking in particular at the influence of CMV infection on the immune response induced by BCG vaccination and its efficacy at protecting against disease progression.  Now I am a laboratory scientist part of the internationally recognised tuberculosis small animal model team, contributing to global TB vaccine and drug initiates.  Here we specialise in the use of advanced in vivo models of M. tuberculosis infection for the evaluation of novel TB vaccine strategies and therapeutics. In the future I do hope to move my research into cancer science and immunotherapy in the form of a PhD.  The find potential of monoclonal antibodies and CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of not only cancer but autoimmune diseases and other illnesses is vastly exciting and it motivates me to pursue this research as a career.