Graham Stephen Le Gros (born 1955/56) is a New Zealand immunologist. He is currently Director (chief executive) of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington, New Zealand and leads its Allergic and Parasitic Diseases Programme. He is also Research Director of the Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huaketo [1] and a Research Professor at Victoria University of Wellington.
Le Gros was born in Blenheim. During his childhood he moved to Singapore with his father who was in the Air Force. He studied at Massey University. [2]
After completing a PhD in 1987 under Jim Watson at the University of Auckland, titled Role of interleukin 2 and interleukin 3 in haemopoiesis, [3] Le Gros undertook a three-year Fogarty Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Washington DC before working for Ciba-Geigy in Switzerland.
In 1990 he published fundamental research – later recognised as a 'Pillar of Immunology' by the Journal of Immunology [4] – with Dr William Paul at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues on the role of IL-4 in Th2 immune responses relevant to allergy, asthma and parasitic diseases.
In 1994 he returned to New Zealand as Director of the Malaghan Institute.
He leads an active biomedical research programme in allergic and parasitic diseases including running a clinical programme exploring the therapeutic potential of human hookworms. [5]
In 2020, during New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown, he was a leading voice among New Zealand scientists calling for a national COVID-19 vaccine programme. [6]
Le Gros is programme director for Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand-Ohu Kaupare Huaketo (VAANZ), a collaborative programme with scientists from the Malaghan Institute, University of Otago and Victoria University, which evaluates vaccines and develops local vaccines. [2] [7]
In 2021 he was appointed to the Board of Research for Life. [8]
In 2005, Le Gros was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his research contributions to the fields of immunology and asthma. [9]
He was awarded the Wellington Medical Research Foundation Gold Medal in 2010 and in 2011 he won the Science and Technology category of the Wellingtonian of the Year Awards [10] for his contribution to medical research in Wellington and New Zealand.
Le Gros was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2014 and the same year was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit [11] in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
In 2016 he received the Sir Geoffrey Peren Award, [12] the Distinguished Alumni Award 2016 by Massey University.
In 2017 Le Gros was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world. [13]
He was named a 2021 Kea [14] World Class New Zealander acknowledging his "stellar career as a world-leading immunologist, seeking to harness the power of the human immune system to improve human health." [15]
Le Gros is married to Professor Franca Ronchese, who leads the Immune Cell Biology Programme at the Malaghan Institute. [16]
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies. Immunotherapy is under preliminary research for its potential to treat various forms of cancer.
In medicine, the hygiene hypothesis states that early childhood exposure to particular microorganisms protects against allergies by strengthening the immune system. In particular, a lack of such exposure is thought to lead to poor immune tolerance. The time period for exposure begins before birth and ends at school age.
Helminthic therapy, an experimental type of immunotherapy, is the treatment of autoimmune diseases and immune disorders by means of deliberate infestation with a helminth or with the eggs of a helminth. Helminths are parasitic worms such as hookworms, whipworms, and threadworms that have evolved to live within a host organism on which they rely for nutrients. These worms are members of two phyla: nematodes, which are primarily used in human helminthic therapy, and flat worms (trematodes).
Heligmosomoides polygyrus, previously named Nematospiroides dubius, is a naturally occurring intestinal roundworm of rodents. It belongs to the family Trychostrongylidae, and male and female worms are morphologically distinguishable. The parasite has a direct lifecycle, with its larval form being the infective stage. H. polygyrus has the ability to establish chronic infections in rodents and alter host immune responses. This nematode is widely used as a gastrointestinal parasitic model in immunological, pharmacological, and toxicological studies.
The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research is an independent biomedical research institute based in Wellington, New Zealand. The Malaghan Institute specialises in the immune system, and how it can be harnessed to improve human health. Its key areas of research and discovery are cancer, asthma and allergy, infectious disease, gut health and brain health. In 2019, the Institute began New Zealand's first clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy, trialling a third-generation CAR T-cell therapy in partnership with Wellington Zhaotai Therapies.
The effects of parasitic worms, or helminths, on the immune system is a recently emerging topic of study among immunologists and other biologists. Experiments have involved a wide range of parasites, diseases, and hosts. The effects on humans have been of special interest. The tendency of many parasitic worms to pacify the host's immune response allows them to mollify some diseases, while worsening others.
Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophagy, inflammasomes, sexually transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection, T cell immunity, commensal bacteria, COVID-19 and Long COVID.
Michael George Baker is an epidemiologist with the University of Otago. Baker is a member of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's Academy and of the New Zealand Ministry of Health's Pandemic Influenza Technical Advisory Group (PITAG).
James Douglas Watson was a New Zealand biotechnologist and entrepreneur.
Anne Camille La Flamme is a New Zealand immunologist. She is currently a professor at the Malaghan Institute at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She has a MSc entitled 'Interleukin-2 production by transgenic Trypanosoma cruzi : molecular and biochemical characterization' and a PhD entitled 'Trypanosoma cruzi-infected macrophages are defective in class II antigen presentation,' both from the University of Washington.
Franca Ronchese is an Italian-New Zealand immunologist. She currently leads the immune cell biology programme at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington, New Zealand and is a research professor at Victoria University of Wellington.
Claire Robinson is a New Zealand political communications academic. As of 2018, she is a full professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor at the Massey University.
Sarah M. Hook is a New Zealand immunology academic, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Otago.
Nicola Mary Turner is a New Zealand public health advocate who is a Professor at the University of Auckland and Medical Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, an organisation that advises the New Zealand medical profession and the New Zealand Government. She has contributed to advisory committees for the New Zealand Ministry of Health, is a spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group and works in general practice. Much of her research and outreach has focused on improving immunisation coverage and closing equity gaps for the national schedule vaccine delivery in New Zealand and she has commented publicly on these issues during COVID-19 in New Zealand.
Helen Aspasia Petousis-Harris is a New Zealand vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland. She has been involved in research related to vaccination in New Zealand since 1998, with her main areas of focus being vaccine safety and effectiveness. Petousis-Harris has had a variety of lead roles in New Zealand and international organisations that focus on vaccination and is a regular media spokesperson in this field, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barney S. Graham is an American immunologist, virologist, and clinical trials physician.
Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre for Complex Systems and Networks, is a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence that focusses on interpreting data about the environment, economy, and society to inform policy decision-making and public debate. Funded by the New Zealand Government, Te Pūnaha Matatini is hosted by the University of Auckland and works in partnership with other universities and organisations, including Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Te Pūnaha Matatini developed mathematical models within different scenarios and provided data to inform the response of the New Zealand Government to the pandemic. Shaun Hendy, David Hayman and Michael Plank were among the high-profile members of the organisation who regularly commented on the COVID-19 pandemic in the news media at the time. The leadership of Te Pūnaha Matatini investigators has supported the setting up of independent research programmes, including Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa and The Disinformation Project.
Dianne Sika-Paotonu is a New Zealand immunologist, biomedical scientist and academic in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Associate Dean (Pacific) at the University of Otago Wellington. She is of Tongan descent and is the first Pasifika biomedical scientist to receive the Cranwell Medal for science communication in 2020 and the 2022 Prime Minister's Science Communicator of the Year prize.
De’Broski. R. Herbert is an immunologist, parasitologist, academic, and biomedical researcher. He is currently Full Professor of Immunology, and Penn Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. He is also the Associate Director for Institute of Infectious and Zoonotic Disease (PennVet), and an affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
Maria Yazdanbakhsh is a Dutch immunologist who is Professor of Cellular Immunology of Parasitic Infections and Head of the Department of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Center. She was elected Fellow of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2023.
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Media related to Graham Le Gros at Wikimedia Commons
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