Catriona Nguyen-Robertson

Graduate/Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient 2019

Since graduating from the Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School in 2011, I have completed a Bachelor of Science and Diploma in Languages and am now undertaking a PhD at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunology.

I work in a very niche field of immunology that is only studied by a handful of research groups around the world. All the researchers come together once every two years for the CD1 MR1 conference, and I was privileged enough to join them this year with the support of the Mac.Rob Foundation.

As it was a reasonably intimate gathering of a couple of hundred researchers, I was able to network, share ideas with other researchers in my field and receive feedback on my work from world experts. At CD1 MR1, everyone knows everyone, and if you haven’t met a person, you will have certainly read their academic papers. As “hipsters” in the immunology field who study “unconventional immune cells”, it provides a good forum to discuss our work without being lost in amongst other topics.

I study the immune cells in our skin that react to lipids (fats and oils). These can be lipids in skincare products, poison ivy and other plants, and bacteria, or more alarmingly, own your skin. Poison ivy, dust mites, bees, and skincare products - these commonly cause allergy (are allergens), but some of the immune cells that they trigger are not so commonly studied. The immune system responds to anything it views as a threat, specifically, molecules that it detects as “non-self”. Allergic contact dermatitis is a common skin condition which causes an itchy rash in the local area that came into contact with the allergen.

I was first studying these cells in the context of infection, as they can be strong defenders against bacteria, such as M.tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, by recognising fats from the bacteria that are different to ours. During my studies, however, I had an allergic reaction to a particular sunscreen. After some detective work, I narrowed down the ingredient that caused my allergy and coincidentally, it seemed to be a target for the very immune cells I work on. I began hence investigating which lipids in sunscreens and other skincare products cause allergy and how. It appears that some oils in sunscreen are taken up by cells in the skin and then presented to the immune system as “non-self” molecules, resulting in allergy.

Following the conference, I had the opportunity to further this research at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine with Professor Graham Ogg and Dr Koshika Yadava. My research in Melbourne is predominantly focused on the basic biology of lipid-reactive immune cells – what they do and what they look like – while, as a dermatologist and researcher, Professor Ogg is investigating these cells in the context of skin allergy and eczema. Working with his research group, I was given the chance to learn about my work from a clinician’s point of view and share ideas about how we can bridge basic biology with the clinical side of research. His team provided valuable feedback and advice as to the different directions my work could take, and asked questions about aspects I hadn’t previously considered (and also taught me a few tips and tricks when working with human skin).

My discussions with researchers from around the world at CD1 MR1 have given me an endless number of ideas and experiments to perform now that I’m back. My new collaboration with the Ogg Group will allow me to explore the interaction of immune cells with oils in skin-care products that cause allergy in a clinical setting. All-in-all, it was a productive trip with delightful company and the wonderful sights of Europe.