Lucy Garner

Computational Biologist and Postdoctoral Scientist

Biography

My undergraduate degree is in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. After graduating, I moved to Oxford in 2013 to work as a Research Assistant for Professor Richard Cornall. My work involved characterising the immunological phenotype of models of genetic disorders and exploring the therapeutic potential of agonistic antibodies to leukocyte inhibitory receptors in collaboration with the lab of Professor Simon Davis.

In 2015, I joined the Wellcome Trust Infection, Immunology and Translational Medicine four-year PhD programme at the University of Oxford. After lab rotations with Professor Paul Klenerman, Professor Fiona Powrie and Professor Graham Ogg, I joined the Klenerman lab to pursue my interests in innate-like T cells, and their role in human health and disease.  Using sequencing technologies, including ATAC-seq and single-cell RNA-seq, my PhD project explored the regulation and heterogeneity of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in human blood and liver. I also worked on a number of collaborative projects investigating populations of human gut T cells, including tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells, and LAG-3-expressing T cells in the context of ulcerative colitis. I received the Nuffield Department of Medicine Overall Prize in 2020 for my accomplishments during my PhD.

Alongside research, I enjoy teaching and public engagement. For the past few years, I have been an immunology tutor at Lincoln College, and a practical class demonstrator for undergraduate medical and biomedical students. I have been involved in a number of outreach activities, including working with Oxford Pint of Science for the last five years.

In my current role, my time is split between research in the Klenerman group, and teaching for the Oxford Biomedical Data Science (OBDS) training programme. I had to develop skills in computational biology in order to analyse the large genomic datasets generated in my PhD, and was greatly assisted by attending this course.  It is great to now be able to give back to the course and help in developing the next generation of computational biologists.