Professor Ivan Morrison

Professor Ivan Morrison

Biography

Background

Professor Ivan Morrison is a group leader at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh having stepped down in 2012 as the Head of the Institute's Infection and Immunity Division. He obtained his BVMS and PhD at the University of Glasgow before taking employment at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) in Nairobi.

In 1990 Professor Morrison became the Head of the Division of Immunology and Pathology at the Institute for Animal Health then in 2002 he became Professor of Immunology at the R(D)SVS. In 1990 he received the Pfizer Award for outstanding contribution to understanding bovine diseases and he has also received The Wellcome Trust Medal for Veterinary Research (1991), American Association of Veterinary Immunologists Award (1997), Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1997) and the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Bledisloe Veterinary Award (2001).

Professor Morrison currently studies the mechanisms of T cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens of ruminants and how dysregulation of such responses can result in enhanced pathology.

Area of Expertise

Research expertise: Immunology and Infectious Disease

 

Qualifications

1975Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Glasgow Canine adenovirus nephropathy Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery, University of Glasgow

Professional Qualifications

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, MRCVS

Responsibilities & affiliations

External Committees

2003- Scientific Advisory Group, Genesis Faraday 2004- External Scientific Advisory Group, VTRI research project, University of Bristol 2004- Director of Genesis Faraday 2006- Moredun Programme Advisory Group, Moredun Institute 2008- Scientific Advisory Group, Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, University of Oxford  2008- Defra Advisory Group on TB Diagnostics

Internal Committees:

2007- University of Edinburgh Postgraduate AppealsCcommitteev 2007- Scientific Management Group, The Roslin Institute 2007- The Roslin Institute Building Steering Group 2008- The Roslin Institute Executive Committee 2008- The Easter Bush Research Consortium (EBRC) Executive Committee 2008- University of Edinburgh, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Research Committee

Undergraduate teaching

As a member of the R(D)SVS, Prof Morrison gives lectures and tutorials in: Infection and Immunity

Prof. Morrison is also a visiting professor at The University of Bristol and gives an annual lecture on Bovine tuberculosis

Research summary

The mechanisms of T cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens of ruminants and how dysregulation of such responses can result in enhanced pathology.

Current research interests

We are interested in understanding the mechanisms of T cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens of ruminants and how dysregulation of such responses can result in enhanced pathology. Our work is focused particularly on the intracellular protozoan parasites Theileria parva and T. annulata, but also includes studies of bovine herpesvirus-1,Staphylococcus aureus and Ehrlichia ruminantium. We have previously demonstrated that CD8 T cell responses play an important role in immunity to T. parva and that the parasite strain specificity of these responses correlates with protection against challenge with heterologous parasite strains. Much of our current work is focused on dissecting the antigenic specificity and function of CD8 T cell responses toT. parva and T annulata and investigating how immunodominance of the response contributes to strain specificity of immunity. We are also using Theileria-transformed cell lines as antigen-presenting cells to investigate T cell responses to bovine herpesvirus-1 and Ehrlichia ruminantium. In the course of our studies we have developed methods to analyse the T cell receptor (TCR) variable gene repertoire of bovine T cells, as a means of determining the clonal composition of responding T cell populations. These tools are also being employed (in collaborative work with Ross Fitzgerald) to determine the TCR Vβ gene specificity of superantigens produced by bovine strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

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