Fiona M. Powrie
University of Oxford
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Primary Section: 43, Immunology and Inflammation Secondary Section: 44, Microbial Biology Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2020)
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Biosketch
Fiona Powrie is Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences and Director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford. She is best recognised for her work defining how immune homeostasis is controlled at barrier surfaces. She gained a PhD in Immunology from the University of Oxford and completed postdoctoral studies at DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto. She returned to the University of Oxford in 1996 as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow and was the Sidney Truelove Professor of Gastroenterology and Head of the Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, from 2009-2014. Fiona received the Ita Askonas Award from the European Federation of Immunological Societies for her contribution to immunology in Europe and the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2012. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society, EMBO, Academy of Medical Sciences and National Academy of Sciences. Fiona has served on Wellcome Trust’s Board of Governors since 2018.
Research Interests
Fiona Powrie’s laboratory is interested in the cellular and molecular networks that control the balance between homeostasis and inflammation in the intestine. Her work has identified an essential role for regulatory T cells in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and contributed understanding of their development and mechanism of action. She has also shown that both adaptive and innate immune mechanisms contribute to intestinal inflammation and identified cytokine IL-23 as a therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel disease. Her current research focus includes study of the interaction between the intestinal microbiome and the immune system and how this mutualistic relationship breaks down in inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. Her laboratory takes a multidisciplinary approach incorporating analysis of wellcharacterised patient cohorts to translate findings from model systems into the clinic. Her recent work has identified cytokine networks that drive colorectal cancer, and established cytokine oncostatin-M as a biomarker and therapeutic target in anti-TNF resistant inflammatory bowel disease.
