Biography
BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Glasgow
DPhil Biochemistry, University of Sussex.
SRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept Biochemistry, U. Sussex.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago,USA.
ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Immunology Department, Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Honorary Lecturer, Dept Biochemistry, St Mary's Hospital Medical School.
Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Immunology Department, Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer, Immunology Division, University College and Middlesex Schools of Medicine.
Reader in Experimental Immunology University College, London
Lecturer, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Reader in Immunology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Professor of Immunobiology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Honorary Fellow, University College, London.
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Honorary Degree University of Copenhagen
Research
Autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes are increasing in incidence in the developed world faster than can be acounted for by genetic change. Onset of Type 1 diabetes and most other autoimmune diseases is governed by both genetic and environmental factors. Our study of environmental factors has highlighted a key role for infection in reducing the incidence of Type 1 diabetes. We find that protection from diabetes arises through an interaction between the infectious agent and the innate immune system such that circuits which regulate the autoimmune response are reinforced. These studies are carried out in collaboration with Professor D Dunne (Microbiology and Parasitology) and Dr P Mastroeni at the Vet School.
Many genes influence the development of Type 1 diabetes. While some genes such as those encoding MHC class II molecules play a major role other genes have been more difficult to identify. Dr Jenny Nichols and I have generated NOD ES cells and these will be used to identify and characterise genes involved in diabetes development in NOD mice.
Publications
Zaccone P, Burton OT, Gibbs S, Miller N, Jones FM, Dunne DW, Cooke A.(2010) Immunomodulation by Schistosoma mansoni antigens in NOD mice: effects on both innate and adaptive immune systems. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2010:795210; 1-11.
Burton, OT, Gibbs S, Miller N, Jones,FM, Wen L, Dunne D, Cooke, A and Paola Zaccone (2010) Importance of TLR2 in the direct response of T lymphocytes to Schistosoma mansoni antigens. Eur J Immunol 40:2221-9.
Lehuen A, Diana J, Zaccone P and Cooke A. (2010) Immune cell crosstalk in Type 1 diabetes. Nature Reviews Immunology 10:501-13.
Burton OT, Zaccone P, Phillips JM, De La Peña H, Fehérvári Z, Azuma M, Gibbs S, Stockinger B, Cooke A. (2010) Roles for TGF-beta and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 in regulatory T cell expansion and diabetes suppression by zymosan in nonobese diabetic mice. J Immunol. 185:2754-62.
Bending D, Newland S, Krejcí A, Phillips JM, Bray S, Cooke A. (2011) Epigenetic changes at Il12rb2 and Tbx21 in relation to plasticity behavior of Th17 cells. J Immunol. 186:3373-82
Zaccone P and Cooke A (2011) Infectious triggers protect from autoimmunity.Seminars in Immunol. 23:122-9.
