The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital


Dr Alexander Barrow obtained his degree in Microbiology from the University of Leeds and his PhD in immunology from the University of Bristol in the UK. Alex performed his post-doctoral research at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR) and was the recipient of a Marie Curie International Fellowship, which he used to travel to Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, USA. Alex teaches cancer immunology to undergraduate students and heads a laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology where his research group examines how growth factors can activate immune responses to cancer cells and pathogens.

  • Key Achievements
    • Alex’s research has contributed significantly to defining the ligands for orphan immunoreceptors and how these receptor signal in innate immune cells to evoke functional immune responses. Alex provided the first evidence that natural killer cells have evolved receptors to sense growth factors expressed by cancer cells in order to control tumour growth. Alex’s work is also relevant to infectious disease since many pathogens encode their own growth factors. Alex was the recipient of a prestigious Marie Curie International Fellowship and has published in leading scientific journals, such as Cell, Nature Immunology, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Current Opinion in Immunology.

    Publications
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    Projects
    • The molecular basis of PDGF-D signaling in immune cells

      Investigating the molecular basis of PDGF-D signaling in immune cells.

    Research Groups
    • Barrow group

      My lab is interested in how receptors expressed by immune cells distinguish normal healthy cells from malignant cells or pathogens. We want to understand how these receptors work together to regulate immune responses so we can design better clinical interventions.


      Lab Team

      Barrow group

      • Patrick Constantinescu
        Research Officer
      • Yuhan Sun
        Masters Student
      • Alexander James Sedgwick
        Masters Student
      • Stephanie Thuy Dong Pham
        Visiting Research Scholar