Prof Dave Cousins

Email: dc282@le.ac.uk

Professor Cousins joined the team from King’s College London where he was a Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator in the Medical Research Council (MRC) & Asthma UK Centre for Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

His research interests centre around the impairment of the immune system in asthma and other respiratory diseases. His research plans are focussed on particular cells of the immune system that produce inflammatory proteins that cause inflammation in the lungs and a worsening of symptoms in patients. For several years his work has examined the role of T-cells (a type of white blood cell) in allergy and asthma. More recently he has been investigating a new cell type, called innate lymphoid cell, that scientists did not know existed until very recently. These new cells may be very important in causing inflammation in the lungs, especially in response to viruses like the common cold virus. He will be continuing his work on these new cells at the BRU with the aim of better understanding their role in respiratory disease. A deeper understanding of these cells will hopefully enable us to develop new and better medicines to treat respiratory diseases.