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Institute of Health Sciences Education - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
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Dr Anna Ridley

Senior Lecturer in Medical Sciences (Immunology)

Email: a.ridley@qmul.ac.uk

Profile

As Immunology theme lead across MBBS I am responsible for delivery of immunology teaching across the medical programmes. I am module lead for two modules, principle internal examiner for graduate entry medicine and project supervisor for biomedical research projects. I am passionate about communicating science and as a STEM ambassador work with the Centre of the Cell and in other setting to engaged students.

After completing my undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Southampton I trained as a Clinical Scientist in Immunology at Southampton General Hospital, during which time I completed an MSc in Medical Immunology at King’s College London. I then spent a year monitoring clinical trials at Oxford BioMedica and subsequently moved to the University of Oxford as a research assistant and DPhil candidate investigating T cell phenotype and function in inflammatory arthritis.

As a postdoc, also in Oxford, my research focused on using cellular techniques to investigate T cells and neutrophils in inflammatory arthritis and I became involved in teaching. I completed a PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, gaining Fellowship of the HEA. This precipitated my move into a purely teaching role at QMUL, initially as a lecturer in Immunology and Infection, delivering postgraduate taught courses in microbiology, before moving to the medical school to take up my current position.

Teaching

  • Module lead for Infection and Immunity (Medicine - graduate entry programme)
  • Module lead for Infection, Immunity and Genetics (Y3 MBBS)
  • Principle external examiner (Medicine - graduate entry programme)
  • Problem Based Learning tutor for medical students (MBBS)
  • BIO604 / BDM606 project supervisor

Research

Research Interests:

I am interested in defining the phenotype and function of T cells from patients with inflammatory arthritis. Using cellular techniques, I have screened compounds identified by artificial intelligence with the aim of finding new treatments for this disease. A further interest is the innate immune system in inflammatory arthritis and specifically how neutrophils, an abundant but understudied population, are involved in disease pathogenesis.

Publications

Selected publications:

  • Simone D, Penkava F, Ridley A, Sansom S, Al-Mossawi MH, Bowness P. (2021). "Single cell analysis of spondylarthritis regulatory T cells identifies distinct synovial gene expression patterns and clonal fate." Commun Biol. 4(1):1395
  • Al-Mossawi MH, Chen L, Fang H, Ridley A, de Wit J, Yager N, Hammitzsch A, Pulyakhina I, Fairfax BP, Simone D, Yi Y, Bandyopadhyay S, Doig K, Gundle R, Kendrick B, Powrie F, Knight JC, Bowness P. (2017). "Unique transcriptome signatures and GM-CSF expression in lymphocytes from patients with spondyloarthritis." Nat Commun. 8(1):1510.
  • Ridley A., Hatano H., Wong-Baeza I., Shaw J., Matthews KK., Al-Mossawi H., Ladell K., Price DA., Bowness P. and Kollnberger S. (2016). "Activation-induced KIR3DL2 binding to HLA-B27 licenses pathogenic T cell differentiation in Spondyloarthritis." Arthritis Rheumatol. 68(4): 901-14
  • Wong-Baeza, I., Ridley, A., Shaw, J., Hatano, H., Rysnik, O., McHugh, K., Piper, C., Brackenbridge, S., Fernandes, R., Chan, A., Bowness, P., and Kollnberger, S. (2013). "KIR3DL2 Binds to HLA-B27 Dimers and Free H Chains More Strongly than Other HLA Class I and Promotes the Expansion of T Cells in Ankylosing Spondylitis." J Immunol. 190(7): 3216-24
  • Bowness, P., Ridley, A., Shaw, J., Chan, A. T., Wong-Baeza, I., Fleming, M., Cummings, F., McMichael A. and Kollnberger, S. (2011). "Th17 cells expressing KIR3DL2+ and responsive to HLA-B27 homodimers are increased in ankylosing spondylitis." J Immunol 186(4): 2672-80.
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