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.
Neuro-Immune Interactions
Neuro-Immune Interactions (held at the MRC WIMM on 27th Feb 2024) was a half-day of talks designed to bring together researchers from neuroscience and immunology at Oxford.
The meeting was led by plenary talks from Professor Christopher Buckley and invited speaker Dr Franziska Denk, who highlighted the synergy between their work on fibroblasts in inflammation and the possible link to nerve injury and neuropathic pain.
Two sessions then featured rapid fire talks from early career researchers showcasing the breadth of interdisciplinary work undertaken across Oxford, ranging from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis, to obesity and cancer.
In total there were over 100 registrants for the event. A sample of attendees showed a roughly equal split between disciplines and a mixture of clinical, translational and basic researchers.
Feedback after the event was overwhelming positive. The meeting clearly showed an appetite within Oxford for research on Neuro-Immune Interactions – a field that only looks set to grow in the coming years.
Ideas for future events include longer talks, and additional time allocated to poster presentations and networking with the aim of fostering neuro-immune collaborations within Oxford and beyond.
Neuro-Immune Interactions was organised by Alexander Davies, Shuaiwei Wang and Pao-Sheng Chang, with support from Bo Sun, Annina Schmid, Yin Dong, Sasi Senga, Sungwoo Song and the MRC WIMM team.
The organisers would like to acknowledge the support of NDCN Events team and the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship scheme in hosting the event.
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.
Websites
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Outreach - July 2024
Glittering on your nerves
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Lab news - June 2024
The Davies lab have been awarded funding from the Medical Research Foundation to uncover the extent to which the immune system is responsible for the nerve pain side effects of immunotherapy for neuroblastoma
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Lab news - June 2023
Body’s immune response may offer alternative approach to neuropathic pain therapies
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Outreach - March 2023
Neuroimmunology at Freeland School Science Day
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Lab news - April 2022
Making antibody immunotherapy for neuroblastoma safer
Funders
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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The therapeutic potential of natural killer cells in neuropathic pain
Journal article
Kim HW. et al, (2023), Trends in Neurosciences
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Long-term tactile hypersensitivity after nerve crush injury in mice is characterized by the persistence of intact sensory axons
Journal article
Kim HW. et al, (2023), Pain
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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
Collaborators
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Simon Rinaldi
Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Neurologist
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Annina Schmid
Professor of Pain Neurosciences
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David Bennett
Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology
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Sarosh Irani
Collaborator, Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Group
Funding
Medical Research Foundation Child and Adolescent Cancer Pain (2024 - present)
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme (2022 - present)
Little Princess Trust - Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (2022 - 2024)
Human Immune Discovery Initiative - NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (2020 - 2022)