Professor Sarah Rowland-Jones

B.M. B.Ch., M.A. (Cantab), D.M. (Oxon), FRCP, F.Med.Sci.

Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Florey Professor of Infection and Immunity

s.l.rowland-jones@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 215 9608

Full contact details

Professor Sarah Rowland-Jones
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX
Profile

For enquiries, please contact – ClinMed-Operational@sheffield.ac.uk

I trained in medicine in Cambridge and Oxford Universities, then did post-graduate training in medicine in London and Sheffield before completing specialist training in Infectious Diseases in Oxford.

I became interested in HIV infection as a junior doctor in London, looking after some of the first AIDS patients to be diagnosed in the UK. I started my research career with a doctorate in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Oxford supervised by Professor Andrew McMichael, studying the role of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in the outcomes of HIV-1 infection and exposure.

My research has been supported by a series of MRC Clinical research fellowships (Training, Clinician Scientist, Senior), culminating in the award of an MRC Clinical Research Professorship from 2008 to 2014.

I became increasingly interested in working in the tropics and was fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate in studies of cellular immune responses to viral infections with researchers in places such as The Gambia, Kenya, Thailand, Viet Nam and China. This led to me becoming Director of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine between 2001 and 2004, and then moving to West Africa to become Research Director of the MRC Laboratories, The Gambia, the UK’s oldest and largest tropical research unit between 2004 and 2008. Whilst in The Gambia my research interests focused on HIV-2 pathogenesis and the development of infant immunity in response to pathogens and vaccines in early life.

I joined the IICD department in 2018 as Florey Professor of Infection and Immunity, and now divide my time between Sheffield and Oxford. I remain an active clinician, holding an Honorary Consultant contract in adult Infectious Diseases. I was President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene between 2018 and 2019 after six years as a Trustee of the Society, and am also a Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford.

Research interests

My research interests focus on host-pathogen interactions in viral infections, with a particular interest in HIV infection and how CMV co-infection contributes to pathogenesis in both HIV-infected people and uninfected infants born to HIV-infected women.

I collaborate closely with Professor Rashida Ferrand (LSHTM) in Harare, Zimbabwe, in studies of HIV pathogenesis and immunology in older children and adolescents with perinatally-acquired HIV infection (PHIV).

In Sheffield I co-lead a research group with Dr Thushan de Silva, where I am working on projects to evaluate vaccine-induced immunity in older children with PHIV, and to characterise acquisition of viral immunity in patients who have undergone Haemapoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT).

Current projects

  • How does the immune system reconstitute cellular responses (T-cells and NK cells) to persistent virus infection following HSCT.
  • What levels of antibody responses to routine childhood vaccines given as part of the Expanded Programme of Immunisation persist in children who present late with PHIV? Are booster immunisations required in this age-group?
Publications

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Conference proceedings papers

  • Yindom L-M, Simms V, Majonga ED, McHugh G, Dauya E, Bandason T, Rylance J, Munyati S, Ferrand RA & Rowland-Jones SL (2019) Immune activation markers and CMV DNA-aemia in children with perinatally acquired HIV infection. JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY, Vol. 22 (pp 39-39) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Murakoshi H, Akahoshi T, Koyanagi M, Chikata T, James KL, Tamura Y, Kuse N, Sun X, Gatanaga H, Rowland-Jones SL , Oka S et al (2016) Impaired Effect of HLA-A*24: 02-associated Mutation on HLA-B*35: 01-associated HIV-1 Control. AIDS RESEARCH AND HUMAN RETROVIRUSES, Vol. 32 (pp 168-168) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Wang L, Yindom LM, Zhang Y, Xu K, Yan H, Dong T & Rowland-Jones SL (2014) Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genetic diversity in a unique HIV-1 cohort in China. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 143 (pp 157-157) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Yindom LM, Wang L, Zhang Y, Xu KY, Yan H, Dong T & Rowland-Jones SL (2011) Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genetic diversity in a unique HIV-1 cohort in China. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 135 (pp 168-168) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Dong T, Zhang Y, Xu KY, Yan H, James I, Peng Y, Blais M-E, Gaudieri S, Chen X, Lun W , Wu H et al (2011) Extensive HLA-driven viral diversity following a narrow-source HIV-1 outbreak in rural China. Blood, Vol. 118(1) (pp 98-106) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Culshaw A, Zhang YH, Yan H, Xu K, Rowland-Jones SL & Dong T (2010) Characterisation of immune responses within HLA-B*40+patients in a Chinese HIV-1 infected slow progressor cohort. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 131 (pp 165-165) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Powell TJ, Fox A, Lien VTK, Hang NLK, Mai LTQ, McMichael AJ, Rowland-Jones SL, Horby P & Dong T (2010) Analysis of H5N1 specific T cell responses in a high risk cohort in VietNam indicates possible asymptomatic infection. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 131 (pp 149-149) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Nuvor SV, Rowland-jones S, Whittle H & Jaye A (2010) Comparison of Cytotoxic activity and Interferon-g secretion by Natural Killer Cells in HIV-1 and HIV-2 infected individuals. Retrovirology, Vol. 7(S1) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Onyango C, Leligdowicz A, Yokoyama M, Sato H, Song H, Nakayama E, Shioda T, Jaye A, Whittle H, Rowland-Jones S & Cotten M (2009) 139 HIV-2 Capsids Distinguishing High and Low Virus Load Patients in a West African Community Cohort. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, Vol. 51(Supplement 2) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Culshaw A, Mashishi T, Spina C, Richman DD, Dong T & Rowland-Jones SL (2008) CTL responses to HIV-1 during acute and chronic infection. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 125 (pp 115-115) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kemal KS, Beattie T, Dong T, Weiser B, Kaul R, Kuiken C, Sutton J, Lang D, Yang H, Peng YC , Collman R et al (2008) Transition From Long-Term Nonprogression to HIV-1 Disease Associated With Escape From Cellular Immune Control. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, Vol. 48(2) (pp 119-126) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Mackelprang RD, John‐Stewart G, Carrington M, Richardson B, Rowland‐Jones S, Gao X, Mbori‐Ngacha D, Mabuka J, Lohman‐Payne B & Farquhar C (2008) Maternal HLA Homozygosity and Mother‐Child HLA Concordance Increase the Risk of Vertical Transmission of HIV‐1. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 197(8) (pp 1156-1161) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ondondo B, Yang H, Dong T, Gleria KD, Suttill A, Conlon C, Brown D, Williams P, Bowness P, Rowland-Jones SL , Hanke T et al (2006) Detection of broad functional gag-specific CD4+ T cell responses in HIV-1-infected subjects following therapeutic immunization with rMVA expressing an HIV-1 gag immunogen. Retrovirology, Vol. 3(S1) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Leligdowicz A, Yindom L-M, Jaye A, Dong T, Alabi A, Sarge-N'jie R, Njai H, McMichael A, Whittle H & Rowland-Jones S (2006) HIV-2 gene product-specific T cell responses and viraemia control. Retrovirology, Vol. 3(S1) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ranasinghe SR, Abidi SH, Rowland-Jones SL, McMichael AJ, Dong T & Davis SJ (2005) Functional analysis of candidate CD8+T cell-derived anti-HIV factors. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 116 (pp 80-80) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ondondo BO, Yang H, Rowland-Jones SL, Hanke T, McMichael A & Dorrell L (2005) pTHr.HIVA and MVA.HIVA vaccines (gag p24/p17) augment CD4+T cell responses in chronically infected HIV-1 patients on HAART. IMMUNOLOGY, Vol. 116 (pp 108-108) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Slyker JA, Lohman BL, Mbori-Ngacha DA, Reilly M, Wee EG-T, Dong T, McMichael AJ, Rowland-Jones SL, Hanke T & John-Stewart G (2005) Modified vaccinia Ankara expressing HIVA antigen stimulates HIV-1-specific CD8 T cells in ELISpot assays of HIV-1 exposed infants. Vaccine, Vol. 23(38) (pp 4711-4719) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Abidi SH, Dong T, Hene L, Vuong M, Evans EJ, McMichael AJ, Rowland-Jones SL, Davis SJ & MEDIMOND (2004) Anti-CD8 antibody induced transcriptional remodelling in HIV-specific CD8 T cells secreting Anti-HIV-1 factors. XV INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE: BASIC SCIENCE (pp 131-135) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Komanduri KV, Ozdemir E, Gillespie GM, St John LS, Rowland-Jones S, Champlin RE & Molldrem JJ (2002) Definitive evidence for an immunodominance hierarchy in the human CD8+T cell response to cytomegalovirus.. BLOOD, Vol. 100(11) (pp 410B-410B) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ozdemir E, St John LS, Gillespie G, Rowland-Jones S, Champlin RE, Molldrem JJ & Komanduri KV (2001) Cytomegalovirus-specific CD8+ T cell recovery, as measured by HLA-peptide tetramer staining, is insufficient to control viremia following allogeneic stem cell transplantation.. BLOOD, Vol. 98(11) (pp 389A-389A) RIS download Bibtex download
  • MacDonald KS, Fowke KR, Kimani J, Dunand VA, Nagelkerke NJD, Ball TB, Oyugi J, Njagi E, Gaur LK, Brunham RC , Wade J et al (2000) Influence of HLA Supertypes on Susceptibility and Resistance to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 181(5) (pp 1581-1589) RIS download Bibtex download
  • McMichael AJ, Ogg G, Wilson J, Callan M, Hambleton S, Appay V, Kelleher T & Rowland-Jones S (2000) Memory CD8 + T cells in HIV infection. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 355(1395) (pp 363-367) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Rowland-Jones S (1999) Broadly cross-reactive HIV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in highly-exposed persistently seronegative donors. Immunology Letters, Vol. 66(1-3) (pp 9-14) RIS download Bibtex download
  • McMichael A, Goulder P, Rowland-Jones S, Phillips R, Xu O & Screaton G (1997) Escafe from immune control by HIV. FASEB Journal, Vol. 11(9) RIS download Bibtex download

Datasets

Preprints

Teaching interests

I enjoy teaching and currently lecture on the M.Sc courses in Molecular Medicine (IICD) and Antimicrobial Resistance (Florey Institute). I am a Mentor on the Academy of Medical Sciences scheme for early career researchers on intermediate fellowships.

Professional activities and memberships
  • Co-coordinator (with Professor Simon Foster), Florey Institute for Host-Pathogen interactions
  • Theme Lead, Infection theme, IICD
  • Academic Editor, Public Library of Science (Biology), 2003 to present, Member of PLOS Biology Advisory Board from 2015 onwards
  • Member, Newton Advanced Fellowships panel, Royal Society, 2015 – present
  • Member, Swedish Research Council, Global Health Panel, 2016 – present
  • Member, Future Leaders African Independent Research (FLAIR) fellowship panel (Royal Society), 2018 – present
  • Member of the Faculty of 1000 since its inception in 2002 to present
  • Academy of Medical Sciences, member of Global Health group, from 2007
  • Academy of Medical Sciences, Fellowship committee (panel 4), from 2017 – present
  • External Examiner, Department of Pathology, University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences, 2017 - present