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About

I investigate immune regulation mechanisms to identify markers of immune disease and targets for immunotherapy. My focus is on type 1 diabetes (T1D) as a paradigm for the pre-clinical diagnosis, prediction and prevention of autoimmune disease; I also am fascinated by immune-inflammatory mechanisms in type 2 diabetes (T2D).

After demonstrating the primacy of insulin as an autoantigen driving pancreatic beta-cell destruction in T1D, and its application as a therapeutic tool to induce regulatory anti-diabetogenic T cells, I conducted a series of trials to determine if a nasal insulin vaccine will prevent T1D in humans. To better understand environment-gene interactions in T1D, in the ENDIA Study (endia.org.au) I am undertaking microbiome, metabolome, epigenome and immunome studies of mothers during pregnancy and their T1D at-risk infants though early life.

Recently, I described a novel immune regulation mechanism whereby soluble CD52, released from activated T cells, suppresses other T cells and innate immune cells. We have made recombinant soluble CD52 from DNA in the lab and have shown that it suppresses inflammation in mouse models, including of some autoimmune diseases. These findings are patented, with the aim of translating soluble CD52 as a therapeutic agent into humans.

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Len Harrison

Baldi A, Braat S, Imrul Hasan M, Bennett C, Barrios M, Jones N, Moir-Meyer G, Abdul Azeez I, Wilcox S, Saiful Alam Bhuiyan M, Ataide R, Clucas D, Harrison LC, Arifeen SE, Bowden R, Biggs B-A, Jex A, Pasricha S-R. Community use of oral antibiotics transiently reprofiles the intestinal microbiome in young Bangladeshi children. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-51326-5

Thomson RL, Oakey H, Haynes A, Craig ME, Harrison LC, Wentworth JM, Anderson A, Ashwood P, Barry S, Brittain B, Brown JD, Colman PG, Davis EA, Hamilton-Williams E, Huynh D, Huynh T, Kim K-W, McGorm KJ, Morahan G, Rawlinson W, Sinnott RO, Soldatos G, Tye-Din JA, Vuillermin PJ, Penno MAS, Couper JJ. Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) longitudinal prospective pregnancy to childhood cohort study of Australian children at risk of type 1 diabetes: parental demographics and birth information. BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. 2024;12(4):10.1136/bmjdrc-2024-004130

Sing ABE, Naselli G, Huang D, Watson K, Colman PG, Harrison LC, Wentworth JM. Feasibility and Validity of In-Home Self-Collected Capillary Blood Spot Screening for Type 1 Diabetes Risk. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics. 2024;26(2):10.1089/dia.2023.0345

Oakey H, Giles LC, Thomson RL, Cao K-AL, Ashwood P, Brown JD, Knight EJ, Barry SC, Craig ME, Colman PG, Davis EA, Hamilton-Williams EE, Harrison LC, Haynes A, Kim KW, Mallitt K-A, McGorm K, Morahan G, Rawlinson WD, Sinnott RO, Soldatos G, Wentworth JM, Couper JJ, Penno MAS, Group TES. Protocol for a nested case-control study design for omics investigations in the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity cohort. Annals of Medicine. 2023;55(1):10.1080/07853890.2023.2198255

Ma X, Cao L, Raneri M, Wang H, Cao Q, Zhao Y, Bediaga NG, Naselli G, Harrison LC, Hawthorne WJ, Hu M, Yi S, O’Connell PJ. Human HLA-DR+CD27+ regulatory T cells show enhanced antigen-specific suppressive function. JCI Insight. 2023;8(23):10.1172/jci.insight.162978

Waibel M, Wentworth JM, So M, Couper JJ, Cameron FJ, MacIsaac RJ, Atlas G, Gorelik A, Litwak S, Sanz-Villanueva L, Trivedi P, Ahmed S, Martin FJ, Doyle ME, Harbison JE, Hall C, Krishnamurthy B, Colman PG, Harrison LC, Thomas HE, Kay TWH. Baricitinib and β-Cell Function in Patients with New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes. New England Journal of Medicine. 2023;389(23):10.1056/nejmoa2306691

Borger JG, Ng AP, Anderton H, Ashdown GW, Auld M, Blewitt ME, Brown DV, Call MJ, Collins P, Freytag S, Harrison LC, Hesping E, Hoysted J, Johnston A, McInneny A, Tang P, Whitehead L, Jex A, Naik SH. Artificial intelligence takes center stage: exploring the capabilities and implications of ChatGPT and other AI‐assisted technologies in scientific research and education. Immunology and Cell Biology. 2023;101(10):10.1111/imcb.12689

Harrison LC, Bandala‐Sanchez E, Oakey H, Colman PG, Watson K, Kim KW, Wu R, Hamilton‐Williams EE, Stone NL, Haynes A, Thomson RL, Vuillermin PJ, Soldatos G, Rawlinson WD, McGorm KJ, Morahan G, Barry SC, Sinnott RO, Wentworth JM, Couper JJ, Penno MA, Barry SC, Craig ME, Colman PG, Couper JJ, Davis EA, Hamilton‐Williams E, Harris M, Harrison LC, Haynes A, Kim KW, Morahan G, Oakey H, Penno MAS, Rawlinson WD, Sinnott RO, Soldatos G, Thomson RL, Vuillermin PJ, Anderson AJ, Ashwood P, Brown JD, Hu W, Huynh D, McGorm KJ, Watson K, Tye‐Din J, Huynh T, Morbey C, Lopez P, Beresford S, Bertram S, Bezuidenhout D, Brandrick S, Butterworth C, Catteau J, Clements N, Gartrell K, Gilbert A, Griffiths H, Gwiazdzinski A, Hall C, Harper G, Hulley A, Hoffman M, Kludas R, Moore B, Ramoso B, Roberts A, Tully A, Vicary I, Wood R, Battersby R, Hope C, Sadlon T, Roth‐Schulze A, Wong Y, Zozaya‐Valdes E, Binkowski S, Brittain B, Bui M, Minhaj A, Naselli G, Ngui K, Nguyen T, Stone N, Ward E, Xu Y, Yau C. A surge in serum mucosal cytokines associated with seroconversion in children at risk for type 1 diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Investigation. 2023;14(9):10.1111/jdi.14031

Gao Y, Stokholm J, O’Hely M, Ponsonby A-L, Tang MLK, Ranganathan S, Saffery R, Harrison LC, Collier F, Gray L, Burgner D, Molloy J, Sly PD, Brix S, Frøkiær H, Vuillermin P, Group BI. Gut microbiota maturity mediates the protective effect of siblings on food allergy. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2023;152(3):10.1016/j.jaci.2023.02.034

McGorm KJ, Brown JD, Thomson RL, Oakey H, Moore B, Hendry A, Colman PG, Craig ME, Davis EA, Harris M, Harrison LC, Haynes A, Soldatos G, Vuillermin P, Wentworth JM, Couper JJ, Penno MAS, Group TES. A Long-Term Evaluation of Facebook for Recruitment and Retention in the ENDIA Type 1 Diabetes Pregnancy-Birth Cohort Study. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 2023;17(3):10.1177/19322968221079867

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