The Wicks lab is interested in understanding the complex biological changes that occur during inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. These conditions occur when the immune system mounts a response against the body’s own tissues. They include diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, myositis, uveitis and vasculitis.

We use preclinical models of these human diseases, in parallel with patient samples, to gain a better understanding of the molecular events that drive disease progression and tissue pathology. Through these studies we ultimately hope to unveil critical information that will enable the development of new diagnostic tools and therapies.

Research interest

My lab research is focused on molecular analysis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We apply ‘omics’ technologies, including genomics and proteomics to the study of human inflammatory disease and the introduction of personalised medicine.

While we research several distinct autoimmune diseases, our primary focus is on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). While great advances in treating RA have been made in recent years with cytokine antagonists, current treatments are not suitable for all patients. We aim to identify novel therapeutic targets for treating RA. We believe information gleaned from studying RA will be pertinent to many other inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, chronic infection and cancer.

A major research theme of my lab is to investigate how the cytokines G-CSF and GM-CSF promote inflammatory disease. This has resulted in collaborations with the biotechnology sector and led to the development of antibody-based therapies that are currently undergoing clinical trials.