Dr Alan Ramsay

Biography

Dr Alan Ramsay is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Lymphoma Biology within the Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He leads a research group focusing on translational research in cancer immunology. His research in the chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and lymphoma field has characterised novel tumour cell-induced T-cell immune evasion mechanisms and translated bench science to clinical trials with immunotherapy (Ramsay et al JCI 2008)(Shanafelt and Ramsay et al Blood 2013)(Ramsay Br. J Haematol. 2013).

This work includes pre-clinical definition of CLL (Ramsay et al Blood 2012) and lymphoma (Ramsay et al Blood 2009) tumour cells co-opting multiple immune checkpoint (IC) molecules to suppress T-cell lytic immune synapse function ('adaptive immune resistance').

Current research focus: understanding and overcoming ‘microenvironmental immunosuppression’ in order to identify new targets for repairing anti-tumour immunity.