Daniel Neill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bio

I am a Tenure Track Fellow at the University of Liverpool.  My focus is on pathogens of the respiratory tract, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae, but also including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.  Prior to my current position I studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Immunology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.  Throughout my research career I have been driven by an interest in the complex and evolving relationship between pathogens and their hosts.

Projects

1. Understanding the role of immunomodulatory pathways in pneumococcal carriage and invasive disease. TGF beta and T regulatory cells are key mediators of pneumococcal carriage (Neill DR et al, Am J Resp Crit Care Med, 2014) but also protect the host against the development of invasive disease (Neill DR et al, PLoS Pathog, 2012).  My work aims to elucidate the key bacterial-host interactions that trigger the activation of regulatory immune responses.

2. Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.  We have developed a novel model of long term P. aeruginosa infection (Fothergill JL et al, Nat Commun, 2014) which we are utilising to examine how seeding from the upper to the lower airways can lead to recurrent infections and how host immunity in chronic infection influences disease outcomes.

3. Helminth-pneumococcal coinfection.  I am interested in the impact of chronic helminth infection on pneumococcal disease epidemiology and disease susceptibility.

PhD Students

Hesham Malak

Alice Law

Hind Al Thagafi

Publications

Circulating pneumolysin is a potent inducer of cardiac injury during pneumococcal infection.
Alhamdi Y, Neill DR, Abrams ST, Malak HA, Yahya R, Barrett-Jolley R, Wang G, Kadioglu A, Toh CH.
PLoS Pathog. 2015 May 14;11(5):e1004836. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004836.

Engineered liposomes sequester bacterial exotoxins and protect from severe invasive infections in mice.
Henry BD, Neill DR, Becker KA, Gore S, Bricio-Moreno L, Ziobro R, Edwards MJ, Mühlemann K, Steinmann J, Kleuser B, Japtok L, Luginbühl M, Wolfmeier H, Scherag A, Gulbins E, Kadioglu A, Draeger A, Babiychuk EB.
Nat Biotechnol. 2015 Jan 33(1):81-8. doi: 10.1038/nbt.3037.

Ca2+-dependent repair of pneumolysin pores: A new paradigm for host cellular defense against bacterial pore-forming toxins.
Wolfmeier H, Schoenauer R, Atanassoff AP, Neill DR, Kadioglu A, Draeger A, Babiychuk EB.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Sep 16. pii: S0167-4889(14)00330-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2014.09.005.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa adaptation in the nasopharyngeal reservoir leads to migration and persistence in the lungs.
Fothergill JL, Neill DR, Loman N, Winstanley C, Kadioglu A
Nat Commun. 2014 Sep 2;5:4780

The B lymphocyte differentiation factor (BAFF) is expressed in the airways of children with CF and in lungs of mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Neill DR, Saint GL, Bricio-Moreno L, Fothergill JL, Southern KW, Winstanley C, Christmas SE, Slupsky JR, McNamara PS, Kadioglu A, Flanagan BF
PLoS One. 2014 May 21;9(5):e95892

A new protective role for S100a9 in regulation of neutrophil recruitment during invasive pneumococcal pneumonia
De Filippo K, Neill DR, Mathies M, Bangert M, McNeill E, Kadioglu A, Hogg N
FASEB J. 2014 Aug;28(8):3600-8

Density and duration of pneumococcal carriage is maintained by transforming growth factor beta 1 and T regulatory cells
Neill DR, Coward WR, Gritzfeld JF, Richards L, Garcia-Garcia FJ, Dotor J, Gordon SB, Kadioglu A.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 May 15;189(10):1250-9

The pneumococcal polysaccharide capsule and pneumolysin differentially affect CXCL8 and IL-6 release from cells of the upper and lower respiratory tract
Kung E, Coward WR, Neill DR, Malak HA, Muhlemann K, Kadioglu A, Hilty M, Hathaway LJ.
PLoS One. 2014 Mar 24;9(3):e92355

IL-33 is more potent than IL-25 in provoking IL-13-producing nuocytes (type 2 innate lymphoid cells) and airway contraction
Barlow JL, Peel S, Fox J, Panova V, Hardman CS, Camelo A, Bucks C, Wu X, Kane CM, Neill DR, Flynn RJ, Sayers I, Hall IP, McKenzie AN.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Oct;132(4):933-41

Spir2; a novel QTL on chromosome 4 contributes to susceptibility to pneumococcal infection in mice
Wisby L, Fernandes VE, Neill DR, Kadioglu A, Andrew PW, Denny P.
BMC Genomics. 2013 Apr 11;14:242

Controlled human infection and re-challenge with Streptococcus pneumoniae reveals the protective efficacy of carriage in healthy adults
Ferreira DM, Neill DR, Bangert M, Gritzfeld JF, Green N, Wright AK, Pennington SH, Bricio-Moreno L, Moreno AT, Miyaji EN, Wright AD, Collins AM, Goldblatt D, Kadioglu A, Gordon SB.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Apr 15;187(8):855-64

Nasopharyngeal carriage with Streptococcus pneumoniae augments the immunizing effect of pneumolysin toxoid B.
Neill DR, Smeaton S, Bangert M, Kadioglu A
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 May;131(5):1433-5

T regulatory cells control susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal pneumonia in mice.
Neill DR, Fernandes VE, Wisby L, Haynes AR, Ferreira DM, Laher A, Strickland N, Gordon SB, Denny P, Kadioglu A, Andrew PW
PLoS Pathog. 2012;8(4):e1002660

Blocking IL-25 signalling protects against gut inflammation in a type-2 model of colitis by suppressing nuocyte and NKT derived IL-13.
Camelo A, Barlow JL, Drynan LF, Neill DR, Ballantyne SJ, Wong SH, Pannell R, Gao W, Wrigley K, Sprenkle J, McKenzie AN
J Gastroenterol. 2012 Nov;47(11):1198-211

Transcription factor RORα is critical for nuocyte development.
Wong SH, Walker JA, Jolin HE, Drynan LF, Hams E, Camelo A, Barlow JL, Neill DR, Panova V, Koch U, Radtke F, Hardman CS, Hwang YY, Fallon PG, McKenzie AN
Nat Immunol. 2012 Jan 22;13(3):229-36

Novel immunogenic peptides elicit systemic anaphylaxis in mice: implications for peptide vaccines.
Smith CM, Bradding P, Neill DR, Baxendale H, Felici F, Andrew PW
J Immunol. 2011 Aug 1;187(3):1201-6.

Nuocytes and beyond: new insights into helminth expulsion.
Neill DR, McKenzie AN.
Trends Parasitol. 2011 May;27(5):214-21.

Pneumolysin activates the NLRP3 inflammasome and promotes proinflammatory cytokines independently of TLR4.
McNeela EA, Burke A, Neill DR, Baxter C, Fernandes VE, Ferreira D, Smeaton S, El-Rachkidy R, McLoughlin RM, Mori A, Moran B, Fitzgerald KA, Tschopp J, Petrilli V, Andrew PW, Kadioglu A, Lavelle EC
PLoS Pathog. 2010 Nov 11;6(11)

TH9 cell generation. TH9: the latest addition to the expanding repertoire of IL-25 targets.
Neill DR, McKenzie AN.
Immunol Cell Biol.2010 Jul;88(5):502-4.

Nuocytes represent a new innate effector leukocyte that mediates type-2 immunity.
Neill DR, Wong SH, Bellosi A, Flynn RJ, Daly M, Langford TK, Bucks C, Kane CM, Fallon PG, Pannell R, Jolin HE, McKenzie AN
Nature. 2010 Apr 29;464(7293):1367-70