Immune regulation of viral lung disease.

Every winter, thousands of infants are hospitalised with severe lung inflammation caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and no effective vaccine exists. This project tackles that gap by studying how the immune system’s regulatory T cells—the cells that normally dial down inflammation—behave during RSV infection. The researchers will run parallel experiments: detailed mechanistic studies in mice, and controlled human challenge studies where healthy adults are infected with a well-characterised strain of RSV (Memphis-37). By comparing regulatory T-cell timing, numbers, and activity in the upper airway, lungs, and blood of both species, they aim to pinpoint exactly which regulatory factors control damaging inflammation. If this works, the findings could directly inform the design of RSV vaccines that provoke protective immunity without triggering the excessive inflammation that makes infantile bronchiolitis so dangerous. The work is fundamental immunology with a clear translational target: understanding why some immune responses protect while others harm, and using that knowledge to shape vaccine design.