Discovery of an Oceanian TNFAIP3 variant that increases resilience to infection

Professor Shane Grey, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney

Dr Shane T Grey's research centres on the genetic control of inflammation, particularly how the TNFAIP3 gene and NF-κB pathway regulate immune activation, tissue inflammation, tolerance, and cancer. His more recent studies show that rather than acting as a binary ‘on/off’ switch, TNFAIP3 acts as an immune rheostat providing spectrum control of immunity through evolutionarily encoded missense variants. Grey will highlight how the discovery of a Oceanian TNFAIP3 variant that increases resilience to infection has led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of how the TNFAIP3 gene and NF-κB pathway control inflammation; using exemplars from pathogen responses to kidney disease.

Shane is Head of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences (BABS) and Head of the Transplantation Immunology Laboratory in the Faculty of Science at UNSW, where he also holds a Professorship in Science. Shane completed his PhD in immunology at Monash University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Sandoz Center for Immunobiology Boston, from where he progressed to Instructor in Surgery (1998) and then to Assistant Professor (2001) Harvard Medical School. He was recruited back to Australia to the Garvan Institute in 2004 and joined UNSW in 2023 as Head of School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences.