Our unique scientific approach

Led by Professor Philip Hodgkin and Dr Vanessa Bryant.

This program seeks to identify the essential cellular processes that govern immune sensing and responses. By examining variations in these immune parameters, or ‘dials’, and linking them to immune dysfunction in patients with diverse immune-related diseases, we aim to develop blood tests that accurately measure immune cell health.

Led by Professor Daniel Gray and Professor Stephen Nutt.

This program focuses on creating comprehensive models of immune processes that connect response dynamics to their underlying molecular mechanisms. By establishing how these mechanisms operate in different tissues or disease-settings, we can develop simulations of individual immune systems and predict the effects of various drugs.

Led by Professor Jo Douglass and Dr Charlotte Slade.

This program will integrate data from immune health “dials” in key patient groups with genetic, cellular, and omic datasets to create a comprehensive understanding of immune health. By tracking patient responses over time and analysing detailed clinical data, we aim to identify the immune health measures that predict disease progression and treatment response.

Through advanced molecular and cellular analyses, the SCIH aims to tease apart diseases with overlapping symptoms but distinct immune mechanisms, improving diagnosis and enabling more targeted treatments.

The SCIH aims to improve disease diagnosis by developing new assays of molecular and cellular biomarkers of disease activity.

This approach will identify those at higher risk for adverse outcomes, enable better prediction of disease progression, facilitate biologically tailored treatment and improve monitoring of treatment efficacy, leading to enhanced patient outcomes.

The centre will develop new predictive approaches to measure how a patient’s immune system will respond to therapies by using computational models to integrate molecular, ‘omic’ and immunophenotypic information.

This approach will enable customised treatment plans, improving effectiveness, reducing trial-and-error and accelerating the journey to finding effective therapies.

The Snow Centre Scientists will be immersed in the centre’s systems immunology framework, enabling rapid translation of centre findings to impactful clinical decisions.

The centre also funds a PhD program designed to support early-career researchers in both clinical and basic science disciplines.

By fostering a networked approach to human immunology and disease research, the program will equip clinicians and scientists with the skills and knowledge to bridge the gap between bench and bedside, advancing interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

The future directions of the SCIH involve expanding its research to include additional disease areas and patient cohorts.

By broadening the range of diseases studied and including diverse patient populations, the centre will be able to explore how immune system dynamics differ across various health states, age groups, and genetic backgrounds.

In addition to expanding disease areas, the centre will embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approaches to enhance data analysis and interpretation.

By applying AI and ML algorithms, the centre can uncover complex patterns and relationships within the data that may not be apparent through traditional analysis methods. This will accelerate the discovery of new biomarkers, improve predictive models and enhance the accuracy of patient stratification.

The centre will actively seek collaborations with global research networks to amplify the impact of its work and ensure that discoveries are rapidly translated into clinical practice. These collaborations will foster knowledge exchange, provide access to diverse patient cohorts, and help bring new immune-based therapies to the global stage more quickly and effectively.