RESEARCH FIELD

Immunogenomics

Immunogenomics applies genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic approaches to understand the genetic architecture of immune function and immune-mediated disease. The field encompasses HLA genetics — the highly polymorphic region of the genome that determines immune peptide presentation and shapes susceptibility to autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and drug hypersensitivity — T cell and B cell receptor repertoire sequencing to characterise adaptive immune diversity and clonal responses, genome-wide association studies for immune traits, and immunopeptidomics for neoantigen vaccine development. Advances in single-cell RNA sequencing and paired receptor sequencing have enabled resolution of immune cell states at unprecedented granularity, revealing rare cell populations driving disease. Population genomics of immune variation across human populations informs vaccine design and disease risk stratification. Major applications are in autoimmune disease genetics, cancer immunotherapy biomarker development, transplant immunology, and infectious disease susceptibility. Funding comes from NIH, Wellcome Trust, cancer immunotherapy consortia, and pharmaceutical companies.