Speaker: Dr Griffith Perkins, Mary Overton Research Fellow, Royal Adelaide Hospital, CALHN and Centre for Clinical and Experimental Transplantation, Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide
Title: mTOR inhibition boosts the formation of functional T cell memory to COVID-19 vaccination in immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients
Chair: Associate Professor Branka Grubor-Bauk, Viral Immunology Group
Zoom ID is 836 0891 8784 Password 070925 or click here for direct link
Speaker biography: Dr Griffith Perkins is an early career researcher with the Centre for Clinical and Experimental Transplantation, which is based out of the AHMS building on North Terrace. He currently holds the Mary Overton Research Fellowship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and appointments with the University of Adelaide Medical School and SA Pathology. Griffith completed his PhD last year investigating COVID-19 vaccine response in immunocompromised patient groups, which culminated in two randomised controlled trials aimed at boosting vaccine response in kidney transplant recipients through immunosuppression modification with mTOR inhibitors, and through targeted modification of patients’ gut microbiomes. He is also interested in humoral and cellular mechanisms of tolerance in transplantation and allergy, and is an Editorial Fellow with the journal Kidney International.
