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Biographical entry Reynolds, Simone

Summary

Simone Reynolds works as a research officer with the Bacteria Pathogenesis and Scabies Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer.
Dr Reynold's research focuses on a family of scabies mite proteins that interact with a component of the human immune system called complement.
Simone Reynolds is a member of the Governance Board for the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics.

Details

Simone completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Griffith University) in 2006 before becoming a research assistant with the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Scabies Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer.

She obtained her PhD in 2013 (The University of Queensland) and was awarded an Australian NHMRC Early Career Fellowship, enabling her to continue her research at QIMR Berghofer as research officer with the Bacteria Pathogenesis and Scabies Laboratory.

Dr Reynolds research focuses on a family of scabies mite proteins that interact with a component of the human immune system called complement. This is a front line defense mechanism that acts as a surveillance system that destroys pathogens and prepares other immune systems for attack. These scabies mite anti-complement proteins help the mites to evade host immunity and establish infection. Simone has also shown that these proteins help to promote the growth of bacteria commonly associated with scabies sores. These same bacteria have been implicated in the development of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

The overall aim is to find suitable targets for developing therapeutics for scabies that simultaneously reduces the occurrence of secondary infections. We believe this strategy has the potential to impact on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease rates, which are globally the highest in Indigenous Australians.

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