Joanna Hester

I am a Kidney Research UK Senior Fellow and group co-leader in the Transplantation Research Immunology Group (TRIG).  

My research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of immunological tolerance versus immune activation with a view to developing therapies that could benefit transplant recipients and patients with immune related diseases. I am particularly interested in immune cells with regulatory properties, regulatory T cells (Treg) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells and the mechanisms of suppression utilized by these cells.  By providing the data on the in vivo efficacy of ex vivo expanded human Treg, my research helped to inform the current clinical study; the TWO Study, in which we are testing safety and efficacy of Treg cells in kidney transplant recipients.

Though my collaborations with colleagues in Oxford and beyond, I am also involved in projects investigating the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy and changes in the immune response in cancer, both in animal models and clinical trials.