Anne O'Garra FRS FMedSci (born 1954) is a British immunologist who has made important discoveries on the mechanism of action of Interleukin 10. O'Garra was born in

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Biography

She was born to Louis O,Garra and Theresa O Garra in 1954, as a child she was noted as having a keen mind. From 1977 to 1980, O'Garra studied at Chelsea College, University of London, and graduated with a B.Sc. (first class honours) in microbiology and biochemistry. At the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), she earned her Ph.D. in microbiology, staying on there for a four-year post-doctorate in immunology. In 1987, O'Garra left England for Palo Alto, California, to work for the DNAX Research Institute, where by 2000 she had become a principal staff scientist in the department of

immunobiology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

. In 2001, she became the head of the Division of Immunoregulation at the Medical Research Council NIMR in London. Since 2015, she has been an associate research director and group leader at the

Francis Crick Institute The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Impe ...

, the successor institute to the NIMR.

Research

O'Garra is known for her contributions to the understanding of the intricate network of cell-cell and cytokine interactions regulating the induction and suppression of cellular immune responses. She was the first to discover the immunosuppressive functions of

Interleukin-10 Interleukin 10 (IL-10), also known as human cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (CSIF), is an anti- inflammatory cytokine. In humans, interleukin 10 is encoded by the ''IL10'' gene. IL-10 signals through a receptor complex consisting of two IL-10 ...

(IL-10), which inhibits antigen presentation by

dendritic cell Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells (also known as ''accessory cells'') of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. ...

s and macrophages and reduces their production of proinflammatory cytokines. She also discovered that dendritic cells produce the interleukin essential for activation of

T-cells A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

(IL-12) and subsequent eradication of intracellular pathogens and that IL-10 regulates this production.

Awards and honors

She is a fellow of the Royal Society, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and the Academy of Medical Sciences. She is an honorary member of the British Society for Immunology. In 2020, the International Cytokine and Interferon Society bestowed an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award to O'Garra for her seminal and original contributions to the field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogarra, Anne 1954 births Fellows of the Royal Society Female fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization British immunologists Living people National Institute for Medical Research faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Academics of the Francis Crick Institute Gibraltarian scientists