DrLydia Durant

Lydia's research career has been centred around understanding mucosal (intestine and lung) immune responses in both health and disease/infection. In her current role as a Senior Teaching Fellow for the BSc Medical Biosciences (BMB) course, she is excited to share her love and passion for biomedical science and research with undergraduate students. She delivers both the Lab Pod 2 practical module and the Immunology & Inflammation Year 2 elective module. Lydia is also the Careers and Year 2 to Year 3 Transition Lead for BMB and has been an academic and personal tutor for BMB students. 

Prior to joining the BMB team, Lydia performed postdoctoral research in Professor Stella Knight's lab at Imperial College and in collaboration with Professor Simon Carding at the Quadram Institute in Norwich, UK through the BBSRC-QIB Gut Microbes and Health programme. She examined the functions of dendritic cells and their interplay with the commensal microbiota, defining a key role for bacterial outer membrane vesicles in modulating intestinal immune responses. These findings contributed to identifying novel mechanisms underlying the immunopathology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)- Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis-and colorectal cancers.

Prior to this, Lydia was a postdoctoral researcher in the Respiratory Medicine Department in NHLI at Imperial College. In Professor Cecilia Johansson's lab, she examined the roles of both innate cytokines (type I interferons) and innate receptor pathways (TLRs, RLRs and DNGR1) in the immune response to respiratory viral infection. In Professor Peter Openshaw's lab, she explored the function of Foxp3 regulatory T cells in respiratory syncytial viral infection and disease.

Lydia obtained her DPhil in Pathology from the University of Oxford where she studied the roles of the transcription factors STAT3 and STAT5 in intestinal immune regulation under the supervision of Professor Fiona Powrie at the University of Oxford and Dr. John O'Shea at the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA). She was awarded a Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) from the NIH in 2009 for this work. She completed her B.A. in Biology with honours at Colby College, Maine, USA, graduating Summa Cum Laude (equivalent to First with Distinction) and gaining membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honours society.