Dr Katherine Jackson

Dr Katherine Jackson completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales investigating the inference of antigen selection from immunoglobulin heavy chain sequence data. Her research focuses on the application of immune receptor repertoire sequencing methodologies to study both immune responses to vaccination and infection and to study the genetics of the immune gene loci, with an interest in the role of individual immunogenetic variability and its impact on the development of antibody repertoires and immune responses.

Following her PhD, Katherine has undertaken post-doctoral training at the University of New South Wales and Stanford University. During these roles she adapted methods developed during her doctoral studies to the larger immune receptor datasets that result from next generation sequencing platforms, and applied these to the monitoring B cell responses in vaccination and infection.

Katherine’s current research continues to focus on utilising immune receptor repertoire sequencing to understand the evolution of responses in contexts ranging from primary vaccination (e.g. Rabies vaccination) and infection (e.g. Ebola virus, acute EBV), to secondary vaccination (e.g. seasonal influenza vaccination) and circumstances of autoimmunity or immune dysregulation.