The human immune system recognises and responds to infections but can overreact due to factors like age, environment, or genetic alterations, leading to autoinflammatory diseases. The Innate Immune and Autoinflammatory Disease Research group focuses on diagnosing and treating these conditions.

Overview

Auto-inflammatory diseases can present anytime from very early in life with severe systemic symptoms such as fevers, swelling, redness, and pain. Diagnosis is typically delayed, requiring extensive investigations to rule out other conditions.

Professor Seth Masters and his team in the Innate Immune and Autoinflammatory Disease Research Research group manages the Australian Autoinflammatory Disease Registry, which aims to increase the rates of genetic diagnosis and gain insights into novel mechanisms for therapeutic development.

The group’s research aims to identify new forms of auto-inflammatory diseases, exploring ways to target innate immune pathways to address inflammation associated with chronic and neurodegenerative conditions.

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Diseases we research

Areas of focus

  • Identify new innate immune pathways causing autoinflammatory disease.
  • Validate the pathogenicity of variants in inflammasome sensors.
  • Determine how G-CSF and type I IFNs contribute to chronic inflammatory or neuroinflammatory pathology.

Research Group Head | Professor Seth Masters

Auto-inflammatory diseases stem from an overactive innate immune system. My research aims to identify the underlying causes of auto-inflammatory diseases, which is crucial for determining the most effective treatment strategies.
Professor Seth Masters, Centre Head of the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases

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Publication highlights

Our research group is keen to discuss funding opportunities

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