Graham Stephen Le Gros (born 1955/56) is a New Zealand immunologist. He is former Director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington, New Zealand and led its allergic and parasitic diseases programme. In January 2025 he stepped down from the role of director and was appointed Deputy Chair of the Malaghan Insitute's trust board [1] .
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 where he also led an active biomedical research programme in allergic and parasitic diseases including running a clinical programme exploring the therapeutic potential of human hookworms [5] . He is a research professor at Victoria University of Wellington.
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 was a founding director of Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huaketo (VAANZ) [7] , a collaborative programme with scientists from the Malaghan Institute, University of Otago and Victoria University, which evaluates vaccines and develops local vaccines. [2] [8]
In 2021 he was appointed to the Board of Research for Life. [9]
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. [10]
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 [11] 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 [12] in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
In 2016 he received the Sir Geoffrey Peren Award, [13] 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. [14]
He was named a 2021 Kea [15] 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." [16]
Le Gros is married to Professor Franca Ronchese, who leads the Ronchese Lab at the Malaghan Institute. [17]
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 properly tuning 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. The theory behind helminth therapy is that these worms reduce negative immune responses due to their TH2 immune response that downregulates the abnormal T-cell responses recently associated with autoimmune disorders. This therapy ties to the Hygiene hypothesis in that the lack of exposure to bacteria and parasites such as helminths can cause a weaker immune system leading to being more susceptible to autoimmune disease.
Heligmosomoides polygyrus 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.
Sir Albert William Liley was a New Zealand medical practitioner, renowned for developing techniques to improve the health of foetuses in utero.
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, allergic and inflammatory diseases, and infectious disease. In 2019, the institute began New Zealand's first clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy, trialling a third-generation CAR T-cell therapy.
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.
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.
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.
Dipyaman Ganguly is an Indian physician-scientist immunologist and cell biologist, currently a principal scientist and Swarnajayanthi Fellow at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB). He heads the Dendritic Cell Laboratory of IICB, popularly known as the Ganguly Lab, where he hosts several researchers involved in research on regulation of innate Immunity and pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2022.
Sarah Margaret 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.
Michael Joseph Mina is an American epidemiologist, immunologist and physician. He was formerly an assistant professor of Epidemiology & Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, assistant Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and currently Chief Medical Officer at eMed. and Chief Medical and Science Officer at Oncodea.
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. In 2024 Sika-Paotonu was awarded the Callaghan Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.
De’Broski. R. Herbert is an immunologist, parasitologist, academic, and biomedical researcher. He ẁas appointed Professor of Immunology in 2021, 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.
Roslyn A. Kemp is a New Zealand immunologist, and as at 2024 is a full professor at the University of Otago. Her research focuses on T cells, mucosal and tumour immune responses, inflammation and T cell memory.
Kjesten Wiig is a New Zealand neuroscientist who serves as the director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, and professor at Victoria University of Wellington's Ferrier Research Institute.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) 
Media related to Graham Le Gros at Wikimedia Commons
| Authority control databases: Academics |
|---|
