![Honorary Professor Kristen Radford](/sites/default/files/profiles/6880.jpeg)
Overview
Background
Professor Radford leads the Cancer Immunotherapies Group at Mater Research Institute-UQ. Her research interests are focussed on understanding how the human immune system can be trained to recognise and fight cancer for the development of vaccines and immunotherapies.
Professor Radford’s leadership and globally-recognised expertise in the fields of human dendritic cell (DC), immuno-oncology, immunotherapy, cancer vaccines and humanised mice is evidenced by 59 publications in top journals including J Exp Med, Nat Immunol, Immunity and more than 50 invitations to speak. She has attracted >$6 million in funding as a Chief Investigator and >$5 million as a Co-Investigator. She has been recognised by awards including NHMRC CDF2 (2011-2014), Mater Medal for Outstanding Research Contribution 2015, ASI Miller Award 2018, a 2021 Fulbright Future Fellowship and Fellowship of the QLD Academy of Arts and Science.
Professor Radford’s expertise include development and clinical trial of the one of the first vaccines to use human circulating blood conventional DC (cDC) for cancer immunotherapy that was translated to a first-in-human clinical trial for metastatic prostate cancer. Her group was the first to functionally characterise the human cDC1 subset) and propose their potential as next-generation cancer vaccines, a finding described by international leaders as “a needle in the cancer vaccine haystack”. She has pioneered techniques to isolate cDC1s from human tissues, culture them from CD34 progenitors in vitro and in humanised mice in vivo and developed a suite of assays to interrogate their phenotype and function, including priming of human tumour specific immune responses. These have been applied to develop novel cancer vaccines that target human cDC1 in vivo, that are now being translated for commercialisation and clinical trial.
Professor Radford has pioneered the development of innovative models that faithfully replicate the human immune system (humanised mice). These are in high demand globally to enhance research impact and increase the speed and accuracy of immunotherapy drug development in oncology, autoimmunity, inflammatory and infectious disease. She has applied these to wide range of applications including hematopoeisis, cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune disease.
Availability
- Honorary Professor Kristen Radford is:
- Available for supervision
Research impacts
- The first functional characterization the rare human CD141+ (cDC1) dendritic cell subset. This finding, described as a “A needle in the cancer vaccine haystack” had an “exceptional impact” on the field because it identified these dendritic cells as being key for immune responses against viruses and cancer and attractive targets for vaccine enhancement. It challenged paradigms of how dendritic cells initiate immune responses and identified novel opportunities for vaccine development.
- Development of novel vaccines that specifically target human cDC1 dendritic cells.
- Development of the Human Immune Model Facility. These are highly regarded as next-generation models for studying the human immune system for a wide range of applications including haematopoiesis, immunology, cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune disease.
- Development of a novel cancer vaccine based on naturally circulating dendritic cells. These findings were translated to a Phase I clinical trial in metastatic prostate cancer that met endpoints of safety and feasibility.
Works
Search Professor Kristen Radford’s works on UQ eSpace
2024
Journal Article
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals peripheral blood leukocyte responses to spinal cord injury in mice with humanised immune systems
Gillespie, Ellen R., Grice, Laura F., Courtney, Isabel G., Lao, Hong Wa, Jung, Woncheol, Ramkomuth, Sonny, Xie, Jacky, Brown, David A., Walsham, James, Radford, Kristen J., Nguyen, Quan H. and Ruitenberg, Marc J. (2024). Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals peripheral blood leukocyte responses to spinal cord injury in mice with humanised immune systems. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 21 (1) 63, 1-20. doi: 10.1186/s12974-024-03048-0
2024
Journal Article
Exploring NK cell receptor dynamics in paediatric leukaemias: implications for immunotherapy and prognosis
Tu, Cui, Buckle, Irina, Leal Rojas, Ingrid, Rossi, Gustavo Rodrigues, Sester, David P, Moore, Andrew S, Radford, Kristen, Guillerey, Camille and Souza‐Fonseca‐Guimaraes, Fernando (2024). Exploring NK cell receptor dynamics in paediatric leukaemias: implications for immunotherapy and prognosis. Clinical & Translational Immunology, 13 (3) e1501, e1501. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1501
2023
Journal Article
Characterization of human engraftment and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in NSG-SGM3 neonate mice engrafted with purified CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells
Liam, O'Brien, Carina, Walpole, Ingrid, Leal-Rojas, Svetlana, Shatunova, Andrew, Moore, Winkler, Ingrid G, Camille, Guillerey and Radford, Kristen J (2023). Characterization of human engraftment and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in NSG-SGM3 neonate mice engrafted with purified CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells. Experimental Hematology, 130 104134, 104134. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2023.11.008
2023
Journal Article
Alpha cell receptor for advanced glycation end products associate with glucagon expression in type 1 diabetes
Leung, Sherman S., Lenchik, Nataliya, Mathews, Clayton, Pugliese, Alberto, McCarthy, Domenica A., Le Bagge, Selena, Ewing, Adam, Harris, Mark, Radford, Kristen J., Borg, Danielle J., Gerling, Ivan and Forbes, Josephine M. (2023). Alpha cell receptor for advanced glycation end products associate with glucagon expression in type 1 diabetes. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 12948, 1-15. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39243-x
2023
Journal Article
High dimensional analysis reveals distinct NK cell subsets but conserved response to stimulation in umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood
Buckle, Irina, Johnson, Anthony, Rojas, Ingrid Leal, Weinert, Vicky, Sester, David P., Radford, Kristen and Guillerey, Camille (2023). High dimensional analysis reveals distinct NK cell subsets but conserved response to stimulation in umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood. European Journal of Immunology, 53 (6) 2250118, 1-13. doi: 10.1002/eji.202250118
2023
Journal Article
CD4+ T cell calibration of antigen-presenting cells optimizes antiviral CD8+ T cell immunity
Gressier, Elise, Schulte-Schrepping, Jonas, Petrov, Lev, Brumhard, Sophia, Stubbemann, Paula, Hiller, Anna, Obermayer, Benedikt, Spitzer, Jasper, Kostevc, Tomislav, Whitney, Paul G., Bachem, Annabell, Odainic, Alexandru, van de Sandt, Carolien, Nguyen, Thi H. O., Ashhurst, Thomas, Wilson, Kayla, Oates, Clare V. L., Gearing, Linden. J., Meischel, Tina, Hochheiser, Katharina, Greyer, Marie, Clarke, Michele, Kreutzenbeck, Maike, Gabriel, Sarah S., Kastenmüller, Wolfgang, Kurts, Christian, Londrigan, Sarah L., Kallies, Axel, Kedzierska, Katherine ... Bedoui, Sammy (2023). CD4+ T cell calibration of antigen-presenting cells optimizes antiviral CD8+ T cell immunity. Nature Immunology, 24 (6), 979-990. doi: 10.1038/s41590-023-01517-x
2023
Journal Article
Maternal diet modulates the infant microbiome and intestinal Flt3L necessary for dendritic cell development and immunity to respiratory infection
Sikder, Md. Al Amin, Rashid, Ridwan B., Ahmed, Tufael, Sebina, Ismail, Howard, Daniel R., Ullah, Md. Ashik, Rahman, Muhammed Mahfuzur, Lynch, Jason P., Curren, Bodie, Werder, Rhiannon B., Simpson, Jennifer, Bissell, Alec, Morrison, Mark, Walpole, Carina, Radford, Kristen J., Kumar, Vinod, Woodruff, Trent M., Ying, Tan Hui, Ali, Ayesha, Kaiko, Gerard E., Upham, John W., Hoelzle, Robert D., Cuív, Páraic Ó., Holt, Patrick G., Dennis, Paul G. and Phipps, Simon (2023). Maternal diet modulates the infant microbiome and intestinal Flt3L necessary for dendritic cell development and immunity to respiratory infection. Immunity, 56 (5), 1098-1114.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.03.002
2022
Journal Article
The Human Dendritic Cell Atlas: An Integrated Transcriptional Tool to Study Human Dendritic Cell Biology
Elahi, Zahra, Angel, Paul W., Butcher, Suzanne K., Rajab, Nadia, Choi, Jarny, Deng, Yidi, Mintern, Justine D., Radford, Kristen and Wells, Christine A. (2022). The Human Dendritic Cell Atlas: An Integrated Transcriptional Tool to Study Human Dendritic Cell Biology. Journal of Immunology, 209 (12), 2352-2361. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2200366
2022
Journal Article
The Human Dendritic Cell Atlas: an integrated transcriptional tool to study human dendritic cell biology
Elahi, Zahra, Angel, Paul W., Butcher, Suzanne K., Rajab, Nadia, Choi, Jarny, Deng, Yidi, Mintern, Justine D., Radford, Kristen and Wells, Christine A. (2022). The Human Dendritic Cell Atlas: an integrated transcriptional tool to study human dendritic cell biology. Journal of Immunology, 209 (12), 2352-2361. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2200366
2022
Journal Article
Soluble RAGE Prevents Type 1 Diabetes Expanding Functional Regulatory T Cells
Leung, Sherman S., Borg, Danielle J., McCarthy, Domenica A., Boursalian, Tamar E., Cracraft, Justen, Zhuang, Aowen, Fotheringham, Amelia K., Flemming, Nicole, Watkins, Thomas, Miles, John J., Groop, Per-Henrik, Scheijen, Jean L., Schalkwijk, Casper G., Steptoe, Raymond J., Radford, Kristen J., Knip, Mikael and Forbes, Josephine M. (2022). Soluble RAGE Prevents Type 1 Diabetes Expanding Functional Regulatory T Cells. Diabetes, 71 (9), 1994-2008. doi: 10.2337/db22-0177
2022
Journal Article
Discordance in STING-induced activation and cell death between mouse and human dendritic cell populations
Pang, Ee Shan, Daraj, Ghazal, Balka, Katherine R., De Nardo, Dominic, Macri, Christophe, Hochrein, Hubertus, Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Tan, Peck S., Shoppee, Angus, Magill, Zoe, Jahan, Nazneen, Bafit, Mariam, Zhan, Yifan, Kile, Benjamin T., Lawlor, Kate E., Radford, Kristen J., Wright, Mark D. and O'Keeffe, Meredith (2022). Discordance in STING-induced activation and cell death between mouse and human dendritic cell populations. Frontiers in Immunology, 13 794776. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.794776
2022
Journal Article
DROSHA but not DICER is required for human haematopoietic stem cell function
Gu, Karen, Walpole, Carina, Gooneratne, Shayarana, Liu, Xin, Haigh, Oscar L., Radford, Kristen J. and Chong, Mark M. W. (2022). DROSHA but not DICER is required for human haematopoietic stem cell function. Clinical and Translational Immunology, 11 (1) e1361, e1361. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1361
2021
Journal Article
Conventional Type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) as cancer therapeutics: challenges and opportunities
Johnson, Phillip, Rosendahl, Nikita and Radford, Kristen J. (2021). Conventional Type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) as cancer therapeutics: challenges and opportunities. Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, 22 (4), 1-8. doi: 10.1080/14712598.2022.1994943
2021
Journal Article
Cytokines as a marker of central nervous system autoantibody associated epilepsy
Gillinder, Lisa, McCombe, Pamela, Powell, Tamara, Hartel, Gunter, Gillis, David, Rojas, Ingrid Leal and Radford, Kristen (2021). Cytokines as a marker of central nervous system autoantibody associated epilepsy. Epilepsy Research, 176 106708, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2021.106708
2021
Journal Article
Elucidating the motif for CpG oligonucleotide binding to the dendritic cell receptor DEC-205 leads to improved adjuvants for liver-resident memory
Li, Jessica, Panetta, Fatma, O’Keeffe, Meredith, Leal Rojas, Ingrid M., Radford, Kristen J., Zhang, Jian-Guo, Fernandez-Ruiz, Daniel, Davey, Gayle M., Gully, Benjamin S., Tullett, Kirsteen M., Rossjohn, Jamie, Berry, Richard, Lee, Chin-Nien, Lahoud, Mireille H., Heath, William R. and Caminschi, Irina (2021). Elucidating the motif for CpG oligonucleotide binding to the dendritic cell receptor DEC-205 leads to improved adjuvants for liver-resident memory. The Journal of Immunology, 207 (7), 1836-1847. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2001153
2021
Journal Article
T cell expression and release of kidney injury molecule-1 in response to glucose variations initiates kidney injury in early diabetes
Forbes, Josephine M., McCarthy, Domenica A., Kassianos, Andrew J., Baskerville, Tracey, Fotheringham, Amelia J., Giuliani, Kurt T. K., Grivei, Anca, Murphy, Andrew J., Flynn, Michelle C., Sullivan, Mitchell A., Chandrashekar, Preeti, Whiddett, Rani, Radford, Kristen J., Flemming, Nicole, Beard, Sam S., D’Silva, Neisha, Nisbet, Janelle, Morton, Adam, Teasdale, Stephanie, Russell, Anthony, Isbel, Nicole, Jones, Timothy, Couper, Jennifer, Healy, Helen, Harris, Mark, Donaghue, Kim, Johnson, David W., Cotterill, Andrew, Barrett, Helen L. and O’Moore-Sullivan, Trisha (2021). T cell expression and release of kidney injury molecule-1 in response to glucose variations initiates kidney injury in early diabetes. Diabetes, 70 (8), 1754-1766. doi: 10.2337/db20-1081
2021
Conference Publication
Activation of stimulator of interferon genes in dendritic cells induces interferon-lambda and subset- and species-specific dendritic cell death
Pang, Ee Shan, Daraj, Ghazal, Macri, Christophe, Balka, Katherine, de Nardo, Dominic, Hochrein, Hubertus, Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Zhan, Yifan, Kile, Benjamin, Lawlor, Kate, Radford, Kristen, Wright, Mark and O’Keeffe, Meredith (2021). Activation of stimulator of interferon genes in dendritic cells induces interferon-lambda and subset- and species-specific dendritic cell death. Immunology 2021™ Meeting, Online, 10–15 May 2021. Rockville, MD United States: American Association of Immunologists. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.206.supp.111.28
2021
Journal Article
Adhesion to E-selectin primes macrophages for activation through AKT and mTOR
Davies, Julie M., Radford, Kristen J., Begun, Jakob, Levesque, Jean-Pierre and Winkler, Ingrid G. (2021). Adhesion to E-selectin primes macrophages for activation through AKT and mTOR. Immunology and Cell Biology, 99 (6) imcb.12447, 622-639. doi: 10.1111/imcb.12447
2021
Journal Article
Human CD141+ dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in patients with advanced melanoma but can be targeted to enhance anti-PD-1 in a humanized mouse model
Lee, Yoke Seng, O'Brien, Liam J., Walpole, Carina M., Pearson, Frances E., Leal-Rojas, Ingrid M., Masterman, Kelly-Anne, Atkinson, Victoria, Barbour, Andrew and Radford, Kristen J. (2021). Human CD141+ dendritic cells (cDC1) are impaired in patients with advanced melanoma but can be targeted to enhance anti-PD-1 in a humanized mouse model. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 9 (3) e001963, 1-12. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001963
2021
Journal Article
Enhancing the immunogenicity of cancer vaccines by harnessing CLEC9A
Lahoud, M. H. and Radford, K. J. (2021). Enhancing the immunogenicity of cancer vaccines by harnessing CLEC9A. Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, 18 (1) 1873056, 1-5. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2021.1873056
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Honorary Professor Kristen Radford is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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The role of human DC1 in cancer
Immunotherapies are one of the most successful treatments for advanced cancer patients but only 15% of patients benefit. The inability of cancer patients to initiate an immune response to their tumour is one of the major reasons for this. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in the initiation and regulation of tumour immune responses and are promising therapeutic agents. The capture of cell debris by DC is the critical first step that governs whether tolerance or immunity is generated but the molecular mechanisms underpinning programming induced following by dead cell uptake by DC subsets remains largely uncharacterised. This proposal uses novel preclinical assays to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which human DC subsets process tumour cells, how this influences their ability to initiate or regulate tumour immune responses, and identify new therapeutic targets to enhance tumour immunogenicity.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Development of novel vaccines for cancer immunotherapy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kelvin Tuong, Professor Maher Gandhi
-
Doctor Philosophy
Personalised therapy for lymphoma
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Maher Gandhi
-
Doctor Philosophy
Investigations in the development of cord blood derived, GMP grade cellular immunotherapies
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Maher Gandhi
Completed supervision
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Establishing Humanized Mouse Models to Evaluate Immunotherapy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Ingrid Winkler, Dr Camille Guillerey
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Human dendritic cell immunoprofiling in advanced melanoma patients and responses to immunotherapy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Andrew Barbour
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
Molecular characterisation and targeting of the dendritic cell receptor Clec9A
Principal Advisor
-
2016
Master Philosophy
The role of human CD1c+ dendritic cells at activating innate and adaptive cells of the immune system
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Ross Barnard
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2015
Master Philosophy
Development of humanised mouse model for DC based immunotherapy
Principal Advisor
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2010
Doctor Philosophy
The functional characterisation of human blood CD11c+ myeloid dendritic cell subsets
Principal Advisor
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2008
Doctor Philosophy
The manipulation of human dendritic cells subsets and the design of optimal preparations for tumour immunotherapy
Principal Advisor
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Engineering antigen-presenting cells for tolerogenic gene therapy in humanised mice.
Associate Advisor
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Immune cell regulation by the microenvironment
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Hana Starobova, Dr Ingrid Winkler
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Defining the Clinical Phenotype of Autoantibody Associated Epilepsy
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Pamela McCombe
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding the early inflammatory response to traumatic spinal cord injury
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Marc Ruitenberg
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
The role of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in the development of type 1 diabetes
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Honorary Professor Josephine Forbes
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
CD83 as a Drug Target in GVHD and Humoral Immunity
Associate Advisor
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
The role of Mincle in the human innate immune response to Candida albicans
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ranjeny Thomas
Media
Enquiries
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