Congratulations to MRC PPU PI Mahima Swamy who has been awarded a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship of £1.2 million to study the responses of the gut immune system to infection.This fellowship, a joint venture between the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust, is for outstanding post-doctoral scientists wishing to build their own UK-based, independent research career addressing an important biomedical question. This Fellowship will support Mahima’s research into investigating a class of poorly characterised gut lymphocytes that are innate-like T cells residing in the intestinal epithelium.

Mahima is very excited about this award and commented “I am really happy to have received this fellowship which funds my lab for 5 years, allowing me to focus on my research into these enigmatic intraepithelial lymphocytes. I am also looking forward to getting a motivated and talented postdoc to come and work with me on understanding immunity at the intestinal barrier”. Potential candidates interested in working with Mahima can contact her at m.swamy@dundee.ac.uk.

Dario Alessi, Director of the MRC PPU stated “I am delighted that Mahima has been awarded a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship. These are highly competitive and sought-after awards. Uncovering the function of intraepithelial lymphocytes is important and likely to reveal fascinating biology of relevance to better understanding and treating diseases such as intestinal immune disorders and cancer”.