ProfessorWilliam Cookson, MA, MD, DPhil, FRCP, FMedSci

Studies include relating airway bacteria to airway immune responses through digital spatial transcriptomics of airway biopsies (in collaboration with Tamiko Nishimura, Yasser Rizalhosseini and Mark Lathrop at McGill Genome Centre). We are also systematicall testing the healthy airway commensal bacteria for anti-inflammatory and anti-infective effects in model systems (with Prof. Kazuhiro Ito), We are progressing investigation of the effects of the airway microbiota on the pathogenesis and progression of lung cancer.

Spatial transcriptomics can be augmented by network analysis to provide extraordinary detail of complex co-ordinated immune and cell specific activities within tissue samples. We are currently combining spatial transcriptomics of lung cancer biopsies (in collaboration with McGill Genome Centre) with advanced AI image analysis (with Jan Lukas Robertus, Royal Brompton Hospital and NHLI) to provide a generally available program for automated histology analysis, together with a wide range of protein markers that will become essential to guide targeted cancer therapies.