Susan Lea elected as Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences
Professor Susan Lea’s status as world leader in structural biology was recognised today with her election as a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences on 8 May 2017.
Fellowship is based on exceptional contributions to the medical sciences and the award celebrates Susan’s crucial research in the field of infection and immunity. Susan is Professor of Microbiology at the Dunn School.
Commenting on Professor Lea’s election, Dunn School Head of Department, Professor Matthew Freeman said: “I am delighted on Susan’s election as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Her election acknowledges her fundamental scientific excellence and real medical significance.”
The Academy of Medical Sciences is an independent body in the UK with a mission to advance biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for society. This year marks the highest ever proportion of women, 37%, as elected Fellows. The 46 new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on 28 June 2017.
The research of Susan’s group is focused on biological structures with specific medical significance in two important areas: the complement system and bacterial secretion systems.
In a series of influential papers, she has investigated activation and regulation of the complement alternative pathway by both membrane bound and fluid phase proteins. Using novel structural approaches, she has provided insight into mechanisms underlying human diseases caused by genetic variation.
Studying the hijack of complement proteins by microbial virulence proteins for both complement evasion and cell entry has led into an interest in design of antigens for new vaccines based on these proteins, work that is now being developed with Novartis.
This work has also led to mechanistic hypotheses that link host genetics to susceptibility to major human pathogens including Neisseria meningitidis.
Other work in this area has characterised a tick protein that strongly inhibits activation of complement and is about to enter Phase II trials as a therapeutic for complement autoimmune diseases.
Her group has made major advances in defining the architecture of bacterial secretion systems, including the pathogenic type three secretion system in Shigella flexneri and the major integral membrane component of the TAT system. Finally, her experiments have also revealed unexpected components of molecular interactions underpinning Notch/ligand signalling.
For further information see:
- https://acmedsci.ac.uk
- https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/election-to-the-fellowship
- https://www.path.ox.ac.uk/content/susan-lea
