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Professor in Immunopharmacology & BBSRC Research Development Fellow, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge
Dr Clare Bryant research focuses on a family of proteins known as Pattern Recognition Receptors (PPRs), including Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and Nod-Like Receptors (NLDs). These proteins are found on the surface of innate immune cells and recognise common protein sequences of microbial pathogens. Dr Bryant and her team are investigating PRRs in different mammalian species and in particular looking at their roles in responding to both purified bacterial ligands and infection with Salmonella entericia serovar Typhimurium.
Their research uses chimeric receptor constructs to study species-specific ligand interaction at the TLR4/MD2 complex. They use single molecule florescence techniques to study how type 1 receptors such as TLR4 forms active complexes and to studying the recruitment of adaptor proteins to TLR4.
Her team is also studying which PRRs detect S. Typhimurium to drive an adaptive immune responses focussing on the inflammasome. They work with Pietro Cicuta (Physics), Julia Gog (DAMPT) and Ray Goldstein (DAMPT) to study bacterial interactions with cells and respiratory tissues using mathematical modelling, optical tweezers and real-time imaging.
