Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology

The Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology team's overall research vision is targeted towards understanding immunological development during early life.

Our focus is on how environmental exposures/inflammation can impact normal immune system development during early life to program an individual to be protected against or at increased risk for development of a broad range of diseases, including asthma and allergies, respiratory, metabolic and mental health.

The overall objective is the development of novel therapeutic strategies to prevent environmentally induced aberrant immune function and to improve long term health prospects for children.

Our future research goals include discovering:

How environmental exposures impact the immune system over the course of life from the prenatal period to adult, and contribute to disease pathogenesis and risk.
How the immune system can be trained to prevent or minimize increased risk for diseases due to environmental exposures/inflammation.
If the immune system can be reprogrammed, following such changes, to reduce/reverse disease susceptibility.
What drives sex specific differences in disease.
Understanding the role of precursor stem cell populations in peripheral tissues.

The primary focus of these current research programs is on allergic outcomes, infectious diseases, pregnancy health, mental health and whether responses are gender dependent.

Team leader

Deborah Strickland

PhD

Head, Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology

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Team members (6)

Jonatan Leffler

PhD

Head, Translational Immunology

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Anya Jones

BSc MSc PhD

Honorary Research Associate

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Naomi Scott

Senior Research Officer

Michael Serralha

Research Assistant

Kyle Mincham

Research Officer

Laith Harb

PhD student

Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology projects

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Featured projects

Mapping changes in immune cell populations in gestational tissues over the course of pregnancy

This is a strategic “pilot” project in which we are seeking basic information on the immune cell content of gestational tissues.

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May 2017

Finding the cellular explanation for recurrent asthma exacerbations

This study is designed to identify the specific unique immune cell response that occurs in these children with recurrent disease.

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May 2017

Other projects

Role of stem cell precursors in tissues Early biomarkers predictive of autism Epigenetic changes underpinning allergen sensitization: a twin-based study Attenuation of maternal inflammatory responses during pregnancy to promote normal immune and behavioral outcomes in the offspring The impact of Influenza infection during early life on immune development Long-term derangement of antigen presenting cell populations in the respiratory tract following Influenza A infection

Reports and Findings

Mucosal immune cell priming by intranasally delivered Haemophilus haemolyticus is associated with heterologous protection against influenza and nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae

Intranasal vaccines offer a needle-free strategy to enhance immunity to respiratory infections. We investigated the mechanism of action of a novel intranasal vaccine using the human respiratory commensal Haemophilus haemolyticus, previously shown to protect against nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae otitis media and accelerate clearance of influenza A virus.

Published research Academic Biostatistics Immunisation Influenza Infectious Diseases Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Vaccine Trials Group Bacterial Respiratory Infectious Disease Group Immune system Strep A Translation

September 2026

Stability and age-specific patterns of rhinovirus circulation in children observed over 3 decades

Rhinoviruses (RV) are the most common respiratory viruses globally and a major cause of airway symptoms in children and individuals with asthma. Although more than 170 RV types exist across 3 species (RV-A, RV-B, RV-C), type-specific circulation patterns and age-related prevalence remain poorly defined.

Asthma Published research Early Childhood Development Influenza Infectious Diseases Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Children’s Respiratory Science BREATH Respiratory viral infections Child and adolescent health

May 2026

Insights from a trial of narrowband UVB for early multiple sclerosis

There is a greater prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS), a neurological autoimmune condition, in populations living further from the equator, hypothesised to be due to reduced sunlight exposure. There exists a proven sunlight surrogate therapy for dermatological inflammatory conditions, in the form of narrowband NB-UVB phototherapy. Yet, there is a paucity of randomized trials of the therapeutic delivery of NB-UVB beyond dermatology for conditions with a systemic inflammatory component.

Published research Vitamin D and Sunlight Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Rare diseases Translational Immunology

April 2026

Developing a Standardised National Model of Care for Treatment of Peanut Allergy in Infants: The ADAPT Peanut Oral Immunotherapy Program

Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy in Australian school-aged children and is rarely outgrown. Access to oral immunotherapy (OIT), a disease-modifying treatment for food allergy, is limited in many regions of the world, including Australia.

Published research Early Childhood Development Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Food Allergy

December 2025