portrait
Research groups
Infilration of a damaged nerve by Natural Killer cells.
Websites
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Pain Killers
Reporting in Cell, Davies et al. describe a role for natural killer (NK) cells in alleviating pain. Commentary in Nature Reviews Immunology.
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UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship award
Alex is one of eight Oxford University academics who have been awarded significant financial funding from the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Scheme
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How does your immune sytem make you feel?
St John's Inspire Programme Lecture for Year 12 & 13 pupils. This video may contain content not authorized for use by its owner; the fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. This material falls under the guidelines of fair use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
Funding
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme (2022 - present)
Little Princess Trust - Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (2022 - present)
Human Immune Discovery Initiative - NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (2020 - 2022)
Funders
Alexander J. Davies
B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D.
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow
Biography
Dr Davies’ research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of nerve injury and neuropathic pain.
He completed his PhD training in neurophysiology with Professor R. Alan North at the University of Manchester. During postdoctoral training at Seoul National University in South Korea his work led to discoveries in spinal mechanisms of neuropathic pain and a clinically-relevant treatment for dental pain. Subsequently, as a NRF Junior Research Fellow, he led a team of international collaborators to reveal a novel immune mechanism of axon degeneration after peripheral nerve injury.
Since moving to the University of Oxford, he has developed methods to study human neuro-immune interactions in vitro, and currently leads several pilot studies phenotyping immune cell function in patients recovering from nerve injury.
Dr Davies was recently awarded a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship in which he will investigate the mechanisms of cellular cytotoxicity in immune-mediated recovery from nerve injury. His long-term goals are to translate these biological discoveries into novel immune therapies for neuropathic pain.
Key publications
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Journal article
Davies AJ. et al, (2019), Cell, 176, 716 - 728.e18
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Journal article
Kim YH. et al, (2012), Neuron, 74, 640 - 647
Recent publications
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Contactin-1 links autoimmune neuropathy and membranous glomerulonephritis
Journal article
FEHMI J. et al, (2023), PLoS One
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Guillain-Barré syndrome following Zika virus infection is associated with a diverse spectrum of peripheral nerve reactive antibodies
Journal article
DAVIES AJ. et al, (2022), Neurology, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation
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In Vitro Visualization of Cell-to-Cell Interactions Between Natural Killer Cells and Sensory Neurons
Chapter
Kim HW. et al, (2022), Natural Killer (NK) Cells., 2463, 251 - 268
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Guillain-Barré syndrome following Zika virus infection is associated with a diverse spectrum of peripheral nerve reactive antibodies
Preprint
Davies AJ. et al, (2021)
Collaborators
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Simon Rinaldi
Associate Professor and MRC Clinician Scientist
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Annina Schmid
Associate Professor
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David Bennett
Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology
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Sarosh Irani
Professor of Autoimmune Neurology