I completed my PhD in Molecular Immunology under the supervision of Prof Rose Zamoyska at the National Institute for Medical Research investigating the role of the CD8β polypeptide in T cell differentiation and function. I spent 6 years working as Lab manager and Postdoctoral researcher at the Babraham Institute with Dr Denis Alexander studying the role of CD45 isoforms in T cells, before moving to the University of Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2007 to work with Prof Hill Gaston and Dr Jane Goodall in the Rheumatology group within Addenbrookes Hospital. I moved to look after Prof Ken Smith’s group as Lab manager in 2014 at CIMR, before coming to the CRUK Cambridge Institute in Jan 2016 to help set up the de la Roche lab. Since then I have been looking after the group as Laboratory Manager and running a research project investigating the role of the transcription factor Gli1 in thymic differentiation.

I have two teenagers, two cats and two allotments that occupy all my spare time!

Publications:

IL-7-dependent compositional changes within the γδ T cell pool in lymph nodes during ageing lead to an unbalanced anti-tumour response. Chen HC, Eling N, Martinez-Jimenez CP, O'Brien LM, Carbonaro V, Marioni JC, Odom DT, de la Roche M. EMBO Rep. 2019 Aug;20(8):e47379. doi: 10.15252/embr.201847379.

IRE1α mediates PKR activation in response to Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Webster SJ, Ellis L, O'Brien LM, Tyrrell B, Fitzmaurice TJ, Elder MJ, Clare S, Chee R, Gaston JS, Goodall JC. Microbes Infect. 2016 Jul-Aug;18(7-8):472-83. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2016.03.010.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced transcription factor, CHOP, is crucial for dendritic cell IL-23 expression. Goodall JC, Wu C, Zhang Y, McNeill L, Ellis L, Saudek V, Gaston JS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Oct 12;107(41):17698-703. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1011736107.

CD4+ T cell hyper-responsiveness in CD45 transgenic mice is independent of isoform. Salmond RJ, McNeill L, Holmes N, Alexander DR. Int Immunol. 2008 Jul;20(7):819-27. doi: 10.1093/intimm/dxn040.

The differential regulation of Lck kinase phosphorylation sites by CD45 is critical for T cell receptor signaling responses. McNeill L, Salmond RJ, Cooper JC, Carret CK, Cassady-Cain RL, Roche-Molina M, Tandon P, Holmes N, Alexander DR. Immunity. 2007 Sep;27(3):425-37. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2007.07.015.

Why is there so much CD45 on T cells? Zamoyska R. Immunity. 2007 Sep;27(3):421-3. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2007.08.009.

An essential role for the stalk region of CD8 beta in the coreceptor function of CD8. Rettig L, McNeill L, Sarner N, Guillaume P, Luescher I, Tolaini M, Kioussis D, Zamoyska R. J Immunol. 2009 Jan 1;182(1):121-9. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.182.1.121.

CD45 isoforms in T cell signalling and development. McNeill L, Cassady RL, Sarkardei S, Cooper JC, Morgan G, Alexander DR. Immunol Lett. 2004 Mar 29;92(1-2):125-34. doi: 10.1016/j.imlet.2003.10.018.

Co-capping studies reveal CD8/TCR interactions after capping CD8 beta polypeptides and intracellular associations of CD8 with p56(lck). Kwan Lim GE, McNeill L, Whitley K, Becker DL, Zamoyska R. Eur J Immunol. 1998 Feb;28(2):745-54. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1521-4141(199802)28:02<745::AID-IMMU745>3.0.CO;2-6.

A CD8 genomic fragment that directs subset-specific expression of CD8 in transgenic mice. Hostert A, Tolaini M, Festenstein R, McNeill L, Malissen B, Williams O, Zamoyska R, Kioussis D. J Immunol. 1997 May 1;158(9):4270-81.