Personal Biography

I am a Professor of Infectious Diseases, a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Global Research Professor, an Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and I run the University’s travel clinic.I was a medical student at New College, Oxford where I developed a love of tropical medicine with expeditions and electives to Kenya, Ghana and Indonesia, then underwent junior doctor training in Paisley, Newcastle and Oxford. I then did a PhD in Oxford with Adrian Hill and Helen Fletcher on malaria vaccines, where I worked on clinical trials and malaria challenge studies for new vaccine candidates, and developed a laboratory project looking for immune correlates of protection against malaria. After completing my specialist training in infectious diseases and microbiology in Oxford, I moved to the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand in 2011 to study the immune response to the neglected tropical diseases melioidosis and scrub typhus, and antimicrobial resistance. In 2015 I returned to Oxford and set up my Tropical Immunology laboratory at the Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research in South Parks Road.

Research and Teaching

I run a research laboratory in the department of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, undertaking research to understand the human immune response to the neglected tropical diseases melioidosis and scrub typhus, and now to SARS-CoV-2. My lab focuses on defining immune correlates of protection against disease, and understanding why people with diabetes get more severe infections.  I am working with collaborators at University of Nevada, Reno to undertake the world’s first vaccine trial in humans for melioidosis. I am the Joint Chief Investigator of PITCH (Protective Immunity from T cells against COVID-19 in Healthcare workers) – a multisite consortium evaluating the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and to Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. I am also part of the VIBRANT study (looking at vaccine breakthrough infections in healthcare workers with Public Health England and the SIREN Study), and the national OCTAVE study looking at vaccine responses in vulnerable groups.

I am passionate about teaching and supporting medical students, and over the years have been responsible for the teaching of medical students in the infectious diseases department, as well as co-organiser of the Infection and Immunity module of the Graduate Entry Medical course.

Selected Publications

Payne, R.P., Longet, S., Austin, J.A., Skelly, D., Dejnirattisai, W… Dunachie S.J. Sustained T Cell Immunity, Protection and Boosting Using Extended Dosing Intervals of BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine.  Cell 184, 1-16, November 11 (2021).

Ogbe A, Kronsteiner B, … Oxford Immunology Network Covid-19 Response T. Cell Consortium, Oxford Protective T Cell Immunology for Covid-Clinical Team, Turtle L, Klenerman P, Goulder P, Frater J, Barnes E, Dunachie S. T cell assays differentiate clinical and subclinical SARS-CoV-2 infections from cross-reactive antiviral responses. Nature Communications 2021; 12(1): 2055

Dunachie, S.J., Day, N.P.J. & Dolecek, C. The challenges of estimating the human global burden of disease of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 57, 95-101 (2020).

Kronsteiner B, Chaichana P, Sumonwiriya M, Jenjaroen K, Chowdhury FR, Chumseng S, Teparrukkul P, Limmathurotsakul D, Day NPJ, Klenerman P, Dunachie SJ. Diabetes alters immune response patterns to acute melioidosis in humans. Eur. J. Immunology 2019, April 29.

Jenjaroen K, Chumseng S, Sumonwiriya M, Ariyaprasert P, Chantratita N, Sunyakumthorn P, Hongsuwan M, Wuthiekanun V, Fletcher HA, Teparrukkul P, Limmathurotsakul D, Day NP, Dunachie SJ. T-Cell Responses Are Associated with Survival in Acute Melioidosis Patients. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 9(10):e0004152. (2015).