Professor William Horsnell

About me:

I joined the CMM after 20 successful years of research in immunology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. My research interests center on 1: how our exposure to one type of disease alters our ability to control a different disease and 2: how mothers’ immunity can shape offspring immunity. Much of this work focuses on immunity to range of mucosal infectious (including helminths, bacteria, viruses and fungi) and non-infectious (e.g. allergy) diseases.

At the CMM I will be contributing to the immunology and co-infection research interests of the center. In addition, I contribute to the management of the centers education activities.

Professor Horsnell’s group focuses on two big questions. Firstly, how does immunity against one infection influence control of a different infection? For example, his team is studying how gastrointestinal infections affect the control of sexually transmitted infections, revealing for the first time, that eosinophils regulate viral pathology in the female reproductive tract. This has been successfully translated in field studies in West Africa. He is also undertaking studies addressing how helminth infection induced eosinophils alter host control of the fungal pathogen Pneumocystis.

Secondly, he is interested in the mechanisms that permit mothers to transfer immunity to their children. Ongoing studies are addressing how maternal immunity alters short- and long-term control of infections (including helminths, Candida, Salmonella and Pneumocococus) in offspring via mechanisms including microchimeric regulation of immunity and epithelial development in offspring. His group are translating their pre-clinical discoveries in human studies.

PhD Cell Biology. University of London 2001

2023-present: Professor of immunity to infection. Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter. UK.

2022-2023: Professor of Immunity to Infection, IDM & Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town. South Africa.

2016-2022: Associate Professor, IDM & Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town. South Africa.

2017-Present: Reader, Institute of Microbiology and Infection, University of Birmingham. UK

2017-2018: Le Studium/Marie Curie Visiting Senior Research Fellow. CNRS-Orleans, France. 1 year Sabbatical.

2008-2015: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, IDM & Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town.

2003-2008: Post-doctoral Fellow, Prof. Frank Brombacher. Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town.

2001- 2003: Post-doctoral Fellow. Prof. Alan Morgan. Physiological Laboratory, University of Liverpool.