Hortle lab

The Hortle Laboratory aims to uncover how the innate immune system contributes to infection and chronic disease, identifying new therapeutic targets to improve treatment outcomes.

The Hortle Laboratory studies the ways in which our innate immune system can work against us; how it can be hijacked by bacteria to aid their own survival, or how it can drive the chronic inflammation that leads to incurable disease. By understanding the intricacies of this system, the Hortle lab aims to find new drug targets for treating some of our most deadly diseases. Currently the team is exploring:

 

  • The role of specialised epithelial cells in respiratory diseases like asthma, tuberculosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
  • The role of mast cells in bacterial infection
  • The dysfunction of oxidative stress responses in COPD
  • Novel immune modulating drugs for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.

Infection and Immunity

  • Host-pathogen interactions
  • Host-directed therapies
  • Immunopathogenesis of pulmonary disease
  • Innate immunity

  • Preclinical animal models including COPD, IPF, respiratory infection
  • Immune response to infectious disease
  • In vivo lung function analysis
  • Histology and imaging
  • In vivo imaging

ALL PUBLICATIONS

People

  • Dr Elinor Hortle

    Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Lab Head and Faculty

  • Tsung-Yu Pai

    PhD Student