Dr Andrew Stagg, BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA

Profile

Having obtained a first degree from the University of Birmingham, Dr Stagg conducted his PhD studies on T cells responses to Mycobacterium leprae at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London.  His interest in dendritic cells developed during a post-doc in the laboratory of Prof. Stella Knight at the MRC Clinical Research Centre in Harrow where his research focused on the role of these cells in inflammatory joint disease triggered by bacterial infection. Next, Dr Stagg spent a short period at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he explored the role of dendritic cells in a transgenic model of HLA-B27 spondyloarthropathy. Upon his return to the Antigen Presentation Research Group at Imperial College London, Dr Stagg's interests developed into the area mucosal immunology, focusing initially on the genital tract and subsequently on the intestine.

He was recruited as a Lecturer to QMUL in 2007 and established his own translational immunology group focused on immune regulation in the human intestine. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2009 and to Reader in Immunology in 2017.

Summary

Dr Stagg's current research focuses on the regulation of immune activity in the human intestine. His group aims to understand how dendritic cells underpin the tightly regulated recognition of gut bacteria that characterises the healthy intestine and how they contribute to the dysregulated response that underlies inflammatory bowel disease.

Teaching

BSc Biomedical Sciences (Module Lead, Advanced Immunology; Lecturer)

MBBS (Lecturer)

MSc Clinical Microbiology (Lecturer)

MSc Gastroenterology (Lecturer)

MSc Physician Associate Studies (Lecturer)

Research

Research Interests:

The Stagg lab is interested the immune mechanisms that operate in the healthy human intestine to foster co-existence with the commensal microbiota and in how dysregulation of these immunological pathways leads to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The ultimate goals are to understand immune homeostasis in the intestine and to translate this knowledge to the clinic in order to improve treatment of patients with IBD

Publications

Cox, S.R., Lindsay, J.O., Fromentin, S., Stagg, A.J., McCarthy, N.E., Galleron, N., Ibraim, S.B., Roume, H., Levenez, F., Pons, N., Maziers, N., Lomer, M., Ehrlich, S.D. Irving, P.M. and Whelan, K. (2020).   Effects of low FODMAP diet on symptoms, fecal microbiome, and markers of inflammation in patients with quiescent inflammatory bowel disease in a randomized trial. Gastroenterology 158: 176-188

Stagg, A.J. Intestinal Dendritic Cells in Health and Gut Inflammation (2018) Front. Immunol https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02883

Giles, E. M., Sanders, T. J., McCarthy, N. E., Lung, J., Pathak, M., MacDonald, T.T.,  Lindsay, J.O. and Stagg, A. J. (2017) Regulation of human intestinal T-cell responses by Type 1 Interferon-STAT1 signalling is disrupted in inflammatory bowel disease. Mucosal Immunology 10: 184-193

McCarthy, N.E., Hedin, C.R., Sanders, T.J., Amon, P. Hoti, I., Ayada, I., Baji, V., Giles, E.M., Wildemann, M., Bashir, Z. Whelan, K. Sanderson, I.R., Lindsay, J.O., and Stagg, A.J. (2015) Azathioprine therapy selectively ablates human Vδ2+ T-cells in Crohn’s disease J. Clin. Invest. 125: 3215-3225

Sanders, T. J., McCarthy, N. E., Giles, E. M., Davidson, K. L., Haltalli, M. L., Hazell, S., Lindsay, J.O. and Stagg, A. J. (2014). Increased production of retinoic acid by intestinal macrophages contributes to their inflammatory phenotype in patients with Crohn's disease. Gastroenterology, 146: 1278-88  

View all Andrew Stagg's Research Publications at: http://www.researchpublications.qmul.ac.uk

Supervision

Primary

• Hannah Gordon
• Beverley Rodger

Secondary

• Radha Gadhok
• Liya Mathew

Previous Supervision

• Paul Harrow
• Hannah Gordon
• Beverly Rodger
• Radha Gadhok