Gurman Kaur PhD Senior Postdoctoral Fellow
Gurman’s research primarily focuses on understanding the role of genetic interactions and natural killer (NK) cells in immune-mediated diseases. Her research aims to tease apart the complexity of NK cell receptor genes in modulating susceptibility to disease. She also has an interest in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the diversity in HLA-C expression, which is an important determinant in influencing disease outcome and efficacy of the immune response.
Gurman is a visiting research fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston and has fostered collaborative research. She is a recipient of the Radcliffe Department of Medicine 2016 excellence award. Gurman enjoys teaching and is a lecturer on the MSc Integrated Immunology course at the University of Oxford, and a Research Associate at St Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Gurman obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Hill Gaston, for which she received the Overseas Research Scholarship and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship. During her doctoral studies, Gurman identified novel splice variants of FOXP3 and investigated the role of these splice variants in human regulatory T cells. Prior to her PhD, Gurman completed a MSc in Human Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London with a full scholarship awarded by the Inlaks Foundation and Imperial College London.
Education and Training
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow: 2013-present, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UK
Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2009-2013, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UK
PhD: 2005-2009, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
MSc (Human Molecular Genetics): 2004-2005, Imperial College London, UK
B.Tech (Biotechnology): 2000-2004, GGSIPU, Delhi, India.
Publications
Kaur G, Gras S, Mobbs JI, Vivian JP, Cortes A, Barber T, Kuttikkatte SB, Jensen LT, Attfield KE, Dendrou CA, Carrington M, McVean G, Purcell AW, Rossjohn J, Fugger L. Structural and regulatory diversity shape HLA-C protein expression levels (2017) Nature Communications 8, ncomms15924
Dendrou CA, Cortes A, Shipman L, Evans HG, Attfield KE, Jostins L, Barber T, Kaur G, Kuttikkatte SB, Leach OA, Desel C, Faergeman SL, Cheeseman J, Neville MJ, Sawcer S, Compston A, Johnson AR, Everett C, Bell JI, Karpe F, Ultsch M, Eigenbrot C, McVean G, Fugger L. Resolving TYK2 locus genotype-to-phenotype differences in autoimmunity (2016) Science Translational Medicine, 8 (363), 363ra149
Kaur, G., Trowsdale, J. and Fugger, L. Natural killer cells and their receptors in multiple sclerosis (2013) Brain, 136 (Pt 9), 2657-2676
Gregory, A. P., Dendrou, C. A., Attfield, K. E., Haghikia, A., Xifara, D. K., Butter, F., Poschmann, G., Kaur, G., Lambert, L., Leach, O. A., Promel, S., Punwani, D., Felce, J. H., Davis, S. J., Gold, R., Nielsen, F. C., Siegel, R. M., Mann, M., Bell, J. I., McVean, G., and Fugger, L. TNF receptor 1 genetic risk mirrors outcome of anti-TNF therapy in multiple sclerosis (2012) Nature, 488 (7412), 508-511
Kaur, G., Goodall, J.C., Jarvis, L.B. and Hill Gaston, J.S. Characterisation of Foxp3 splice variants in human CD4+ and CD8+ T cells - identification of Foxp3Delta7 in human regulatory T cells (2010) Molecular immunology, 48 (1-3), 321-332
Kaur, G., Busch, R. and Gaston, J.S.H. The role of Foxp3 in regulatory T cell differentiation and function (2009) Current Immunology Reviews, 5 (2), 89-101
Ingram, R.J., Isaacs, J.D., Kaur, G., Lowther, D.E., Reynolds, C.J., Boyton, R.J., Collinge,J., Jackson, G.S. and Altmann, D.M. A role of cellular prion protein in programming T-cell cytokine responses in disease (2009) FASEB J, 23 (6), 1672-84
Isaacs, J.D., Garden, O.A., Kaur, G., Collinge,J., Jackson, G.S. and Altmann, D.M. The cellular prion protein is preferentially expressed by CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (2008) Immunology,125 (3), 313-319
Duggleby, R.C., Shaw, T.N., Jarvis, L.B., Kaur, G. and Gaston, J.S. CD27 expression discriminates between regulatory and non-regulatory cells after expansion of human peripheral blood CD4+ CD25+ cells (2007) Immunology, 121(1), 129-39