About our lab
The Swansea Immunology Research Lab is based in Swansea University Medical School. It is made up of multiple PIs, research assistants, PhD students, technicians and more. We also supervise undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.
The Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Prof Cathy Thornton
Cathy Thornton is Professor of Human Immunology studying immunological adaptation in pregnancy and antenatal determinants of immune health in childhood. This includes study of the placenta in health and in adverse obstetric conditions. Interests in these areas also supports global challenges research related to improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes. Analysis of blood via various techniques is a core research approach and this underpins a quest for novel blood-based diagnostics for pregnancy disorders. It also enables collaboration with developers of blood handling medical devices such as those for mechanical circulatory support.
​
Lecturer
Dr April Rees
I’m a Lecturer with a research interest into women’s health and immunometabolism. My PhD was investigating the immune system of pregnancy. My current research, for which I am PI for, focuses on the inflammatory and metabolic profile of endometriosis and PCOS.
I've recently received funding from Diabetes UK to investigate immunometabolism in gestational diabetes, and SDMF for inflammation in endometriosis.
​
Lecturer
Dr Sophie Reed
I'm a pharmacology lecturer and am currently working on the NERC funded RESPIRE project (Relating Environment-use Scenarios in Pregnancy/Infanthood and Resulting airborne material Exposures to child health outcomes). My research focuses on investigating the effects of air pollution on pregnancy with a focus on inflammatory responses, epithelial barriers and innate immunity.
​
Research Assistant
Dr Oliver Richards
I’m a research assistant with a particular interest in obstetric disorders. My research focuses on applying novel approaches to current diagnostic paradigms in pregnancy (including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia), with the goal of improving current care pathways and patient experiences. This involves investigating the ability of vibrational spectroscopy for the diagnosis of obstetric disorders and exploring the contribution of extracellular vesicles to disease aetiology.
​
Research Officer
Dr Aisling Morrin
I am a postdoctoral researcher and I am interested in the effects of heat on immune and physiological responses. More specifically, my research investigates how the detrimental consequences of climate change, such as heatwaves, can impact the immune system, particularly in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women.
​
Research Assistant
Tiffany Haddow
I am working on the MAGENTA project as a research co-ordinator, investigating the immunological effects of heat on pregnant women. My background is in immunogenetics where I trained as a HCPC registered Biomedical Scientist and have worked in both diagnostic and research laboratories.
​
Research assistant
Emma Stanton
I am a research assistant currently investigating inflammatory and metabolic profile of endometriosis and how heat effects the immune system in pregnant women. My previous research themes include repurposed drug targeting of the tumour microenvironment by exploiting dysregulated metabolic pathways (PhD) and drug screening in cancer (previous research assistant job).
​
Technician
Felicity Church
I am a Research Technician on the MAGENTA project where we are currently aiming to investigate the effects of heat on pregnancy.
​
PhD student
Molly Raikes
I’m a PhD student funded by the Multiple Sclerosis society, where I’m currently focusing on placental extracellular vesicles and their role in immunity and inflammation.
​
PhD student
Tyler Joseph
I'm a graduate teaching assistant doing a PhD researching the effects of nanoplastic on innate immune cells during pregnancy.
​
Funders.
