Dr Helen Fletcher

Research

Helen Fletcher obtained a BSc (hons) in Medical Microbiology in 1994 and PhD in Molecular Diagnosis of Aspergillus Infection in 1999, both from the University of Leeds. Helen Fletcher then worked for 3 years as a Postdoctoral Immunologist at the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University College London. Since 2002 Helen Fletcher has worked with Helen McShane as a Postdoctoral Immunologist on multi-partner EC, Wellcome Trust and NIH funded projects to discover biomarkers of protection from TB disease, develop clinical trials capacity in Africa and develop new vaccines for TB.

Helen Fletcher has also developed her own research programme on transcriptional profiling of immune responses following both TB and malaria vaccination.

Key Publications

Fletcher HA, Pathan AA, Berthoud TK, Dunachie SJ, Whelan KT, Sander CR, Hill AVS and McShane H. Boosting BCG vaccination with MVA85A down-regulates the immunoregulatory cytokine TGF-1. Vaccine. 2008 Sep 26;26(41):5269-75.

Berthoud TK, Dunachie SJ, Todryk S, Hill AV, Fletcher HA. MIG (CXCL9) is a more sensitive measure than IFN-gamma of vaccine induced T-cell responses in volunteers receiving investigated malaria vaccines. J Immunol Methods. 2009 Jan 1;340(1):33-41.

Fletcher HA, Keyser A, Bowmaker M, Sayles PC, Kaplan G, Hussey G, Hill AV, Hanekom WA. Transcriptional profiling of mycobacterial antigen-induced responses in infants vaccinated with BCG at birth. BMC Med Genomics. 2009 Feb 24;2:10.

Mwacharo J, Dunachie SJ, Kai O, Hill AVS, Bejon P, Fletcher HA. Quantitative PCR Evaluation of Cellular Immune Responses in Kenyan children Vaccinated with a Candidate Malaria Vaccine. Plos One. 2009 Dec 23;4(12):e8434.

de Cassan SC, Pathan AA, Hill AVS, McShane H, Fletcher HA. Investigating the dynamics of vaccine induced Th17 and regulatory T cells in healthy adults vaccinated with BCG followed by MVA85A. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010; 17(7): 1066-73.