School of Infection & Immunity

23/04/2026

🆕 | School of Infection & Immunity colleagues attended the recent Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast.

Spanning all career stages, the team showcased their research and contributed to key sessions, demonstrating the depth of Bacteriology at Sii.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1262697_en.html

15/04/2026

🆕 | A new study co-led by the School of Infection & Immunity's Professor Pasquale Maffia and Dr Bamba Gaye, of the Alliance for Medical Research in Africa and Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar reveals that African countries remain severely underrepresented in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in the world’s leading medical and cardiovascular journals.

Researchers analysed 2,472 randomised controlled trials published between 2019 and 2024 across eight major journals and found that only 3.9 per cent of trials in leading general medical journals were conducted exclusively in Africa, while just 0.6 per cent of trials in major cardiovascular journals were Africa-only studies.

Africa bears roughly 25 per cent of the global disease burden, yet African populations are rarely included in studies that shape international medical guidelines.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, also found that African sites were included in only a small proportion of multicontinental trials, and African leadership was uncommon in these studies.

🔗 Read the full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1261211_en.html

📜 Read the paper: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2026.02.5097

13/04/2026

🆕 | Two initiatives co-led by the School of Infection & Immunity’s Dr Laura McCaughey have been shortlisted in two separate categories in the Graduate Futures Institute Academic Employability Awards 2026.

Recognising innovative approaches to embedding employability in the curriculum, the awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2026 at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in London.

Complete Graduate, developed by Dr McCaughey, Dr Anna McGregor (School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine), Dr Lesley Hamilton (College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences Education Hub), and Fiona Stubbs (Careers and Employability Manager), has been shortlisted in the Co-created Employability Initiatives category.

In the Authentic Assessment for Employability category, Business in the Biosciences - a final-year course Dr McCaughey and Dr McGregor co-developed with Dr Nick Quinn and Marion Anderson - has been recognised for its focus on translational research and enterprise.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1256746_en.html

10/04/2026

🥇 | A team involving two School of Infection & Immunity students recently took first place in this year’s Startup Factory Scotland Grand Final, hosted at the University of Glasgow Advanced Research Centre and supported by The Scottish Government, on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

Fourth year Microbiology students Rayan Ishraq and James Mclauchlan, alongside their EcoGraze teammates, claimed the top prize.

Opened by UofG Principal Professor Andy Schofield, 15 finalist teams from universities and colleges across Scotland came together after progressing through regional Startup Factory weekends in Aberdeen, Inverness/Elgin, St Andrews, Edinburgh, the Borders, and Glasgow City Region.

Congratulations to Rayan and James, whose team took home a prize of £5,000, and everyone who took part in the grand final.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1260750_en.html

26/03/2026

📻 | The School of Infection & Immunity's Dr Eve Smith recently featured on BBC Radio Scotland’s Morning with Stephen Jardine for a special surgery on juvenile arthritis.

During the programme, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Rheumatology Dr Smith discussed paediatric rheumatic diseases and answered callers' questions.

The feature provided an important opportunity to raise awareness of conditions that affect hundreds of children across Scotland as part of the World Young Rheumatic Diseases Day - WORD Day campaign.

WORD Day took place on Wednesday, 18 March 2026, and is an initiative by the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS) to highlight the challenges faced by young people living with rheumatic diseases.

🔗 More: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1255970_en.html

🎧Listen back (Dr Smith appears from 2:11:00 - 2:39:00): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002scym

18/03/2026

🆕 | The School of Infection & Immunity's Dr Mariana Ferreira Silva has been awarded a Young Investigator Grant from FAPESP-Brazil to establish a research group at the Universidade de São Paulo (FCFRP - Ribeirão Preto).

This is a five-year position and Dr Ferreira-Silva will be leading a project titled Characterization of the ubiquitin proteasome system in Toxoplasma gondii and its role in parasite chronic differentiation.

During the project, Parasitology Research Associate Dr Ferreira-Silva will investigate how the ubiquitination system contributes to Toxoplasma gondii life cycle progression.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1254480_en.html

16/03/2026

🆕 | School of Infection & Immunity Head of Bacteriology Professor Donal Wall delivered his inaugural lecture on Friday, 27 February 2026 in the Wolfson Medical Building.

In front of a large audience in the Yudowitz Seminar Room, Professor Wall discussed his distinguished career and outlined his research focus.

He reflected on his academic journey, from completing his PhD at University College Dublin to undertaking postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and The University of Edinburgh, before establishing his own research group here at the University of Glasgow.

The engaging lecture also spanned a range of topics, from soil microbiology and veterinary microbiology to human pathogens and the microbiome.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1253901_en.html

13/03/2026

🆕 | We recently welcomed students from across the University of Glasgow to the Sir Graeme Davies Building for an Open House offering an introduction to the School of Infection & Immunity.

Attendees had the opportunity to observe ongoing research, meet fellow students and school staff, and gain insight into the academic environment that underpins our teaching and research.

The afternoon proved a tremendous success, with a post-event survey providing overwhelmingly positive feedback.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1253236_en.html

12/03/2026

📻 | Tune in to BBC Radio Scotland's surgery this morning (between 10.40 and 11.40am) to hear the School of Infection & Immunity's Dr Eve Smith discuss arthritis and other paediatric rheumatic diseases as part of the World Young Rheumatic Disease Day campaign.

🔊 Listen here:

Getting to the heart of the stories making the news.

10/03/2026

🌍 | 2026 marks a decade of AfrIB💡P!

African ImmunoBiology of Parasites, Pathogens and Pathogenesis (AfrIBOP) was the brainchild of Sii's Professor Paul Garside and Professor Francis Ndungu of Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) KEMRI-Wellcome.

This flagship programme involves School of Infection & Immunity staff and supports researchers and clinicians in immunology across Africa.

More than 500 students from over 20 African countries have now completed the programme in locations such as the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme in Malawi and IDeAL – KEMRI-Wellcome Trust in Kenya, with the majority remaining in Africa to pursue careers in scientific research, strengthening research capacity across the continent.

The milestone 2026 edition is scheduled to be held this month in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

🔗 Full story: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1253233_en.html

03/03/2026

🆕 | A new initiative to support students in Gaza has officially launched following a strong response from colleagues across Life Sciences in The University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences.

Practical Resources for Gaza Students (PRGS) is an externally facing Moodle site established to share recorded practical teaching resources for ongoing online Life Sciences programmes delivered by the five Palestinian Universities in the Gaza Strip (PUGS).

The platform hosts materials such as laboratory demonstrations, fieldwork videos, virtual reality by proxy resources, and computer practicals.

These resources are designed to supplement lectures and tutorials that students continue to access locally, helping to address the lack of access to laboratories and fieldwork.

The launch follows a call issued to Life Sciences Course Coordinators and lecturers in November 2025, inviting colleagues to identify recorded practical teaching resources - many developed during the COVID period - that could be shared.

The generous response from staff has enabled the creation and population of the Moodle site, marking a significant collective effort across the College of MVLS community.

The initiative is being led by School of Infection & Immunity (Sii) colleagues Professor Olwyn Byron and Professor Adnan Al-Hindi.

The Moodle site was created by MVLS Education Hub colleagues Dr Lesley Hamilton (E-Learning Officer) and Bethany Mansfield (Administrative Assistant), both of whom will continue to curate and update the site as new resources are added.

🔗 More: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infectionimmunity/newsevents/headline_1246470_en.html