Prof Phil Hodgkin, Division Head | WEHI Researcher Profile

About

Our lab has a long-standing interest in understanding how the immune system operates. By combining experiment and theory we aim to identify and codify how logical cellular operations can be altered and controlled by a range of signals. The results lead to powerful, predictive quantitative models that improve our understanding and provide new tools to dissect the system further. Our target is the immune system, but our developing and improving theories apply equally to blood cell development and cancer biology.

Our developing theory and models borrow ideas from statistical physics. We observed cells using randomising processes to code, and allocate, cells to different tasks. We use this feature to create quantitative probabilistic models of the cell and from that starting point extrapolate to complete complex dynamic systems. We test and inform the developing framework by experiments such as video microscopy to catch single T and B cells in the act of making decisions and modifying their behaviour.

Our models are now mature and accurate enough to serve as the framework for investigations into:
– Human variation leading to immunodeficiency and autoimmunity
– Calculating the effect of drugs and inhibitors on cellular behavior and predicting effective synergistic combinations for immune and cancer chemotherapy
– Measuring cytokine and costimulatory regulators of T and B cell responses on single cell changes.
– Applying our cellular mechanical principles to examine the evolution of cancer cells.

Education

Awards

Fellowships

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Phil Hodgkin

Biemond M, Vremec D, Gray DH, Hodgkin PD, Heinzel S. Programmed death receptor 1 (PD‐1) ligand Fc fusion proteins reduce T‐cell proliferation in vitro independently of PD‐1. Immunology and Cell Biology. 2024;102(2):10.1111/imcb.12714

Heinzel S, Cheon H, Belz GT, Hodgkin PD. Survival and division fate programs are preserved but retuned during the naïve to memory CD8+ T‐cell transition. Immunology and Cell Biology. 2024;102(1):10.1111/imcb.12699

Farchione AJ, Cheon H, Hodgkin PD, Bryant VL. Quantifying Human Naïve B Cell Proliferation Kinetics and Differentiation in Controlled In Vitro Cell Culture. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2024;2826:10.1007/978-1-0716-3950-4_13

Hodgkin PD. Kevin Lafferty and the lymphocyte costimulator: theory and practice in Canberra. Immunology and Cell Biology. 2023;101(8):10.1111/imcb.12683

Robinson MJ, Ding Z, Dowling MR, Hill DL, Webster RH, McKenzie C, Pitt C, O’Donnell K, Mulder J, Brodie E, Hodgkin PD, Wong NC, Quast I, Tarlinton DM. Intrinsically determined turnover underlies broad heterogeneity in plasma-cell lifespan. Immunity. 2023;56(7):10.1016/j.immuni.2023.04.015

Kong IY, Trezise S, Light A, Todorovski I, Arnau GM, Gadipally S, Yoannidis D, Simpson KJ, Dong X, Whitehead L, Tempany JC, Farchione AJ, Sheikh AA, Groom JR, Rogers KL, Herold MJ, Bryant VL, Ritchie ME, Willis SN, Johnstone RW, Hodgkin PD, Nutt SL, Vervoort SJ, Hawkins ED. Epigenetic modulators of B cell fate identified through coupled phenotype-transcriptome analysis. Cell Death & Differentiation. 2022;29(12):10.1038/s41418-022-01037-5

Robinson MJ, Dowling MR, Pitt C, O’Donnell K, Webster RH, Hill DL, Ding Z, Dvorscek AR, Brodie EJ, Hodgkin PD, Quast I, Tarlinton DM. Long-lived plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow at a constant rate from early in an immune response. Science Immunology. 2022;7(76):10.1126/sciimmunol.abm8389

Horton MB, Cheon H, Duffy KR, Brown D, Naik SH, Alvarado C, Groom JR, Heinzel S, Hodgkin PD. Lineage tracing reveals B cell antibody class switching is stochastic, cell-autonomous, and tuneable. Immunity. 2022;55(10):10.1016/j.immuni.2022.08.004

Zotos D, Quast I, Li-Wai-Suen CSN, McKenzie CI, Robinson MJ, Kan A, Smyth GK, Hodgkin PD, Tarlinton DM. The concerted change in the distribution of cell cycle phases and zone composition in germinal centers is regulated by IL-21. Nature Communications. 2021;12(1):10.1038/s41467-021-27477-0

Naik S, Tian L, Tomei S, Schreuder J, Weber T, Amman-Zalcenstein D, Lin D, Tran J, Audiger C, Bahlo M, Chu M, Diakumis P, Gouil Q, Hilton A, Jarratt A, Willson T, Kats L, kelly M, Pang ES, O’Keeffe M, Patton T, Sargeant T, Su S, Hodgkin P, Ng A, Ritchie M. 3104 – CLONAL MULTI-OMICS METHODS SIS-SEQ AND SIS-SKEW REVEAL BCOR AS A NEGATIVE REGULATOR OF EMERGENCY DENDRITIC CELL DEVELOPMENT. Experimental Hematology. 2021;100:10.1016/j.exphem.2021.12.321