Jack McCowan
Research Technician
Research Technician
About me
Having graduated through the highly coveted Glasgow University Immunology MSci programme, I was keen to remain within the centre to help contribute to the exciting atmosphere which I have been a part of for the past 5 years. This fit well with my desire to remain in the city’s west end, where I am constantly enamoured by the lifestyle it offers. During my spare time I enjoy keeping fit by going to the gym, hiking, and walking my dog (Murphy). I also enjoy going out with friends and exploring the wide range of bars and music venues that Glasgow has to offer. Research interests My work thus far has been focused within the murine lung, where I have helped investigate the immune response in health and disease, both during my MSci placement and within the Perona-Wright laboratory. During my MSci placement I looked at pulmonary macrophages. More specifically, I helped characterise the recruitment of alveolar macrophages after their depletion by chemical insult. This began my interest in the lung, and I soon found myself drawn to the Perona-Wright laboratory where I began as a research assistant in September 2021. One of the key interests of the Perona-Wright laboratory is influenza and so I was excited about furthering my expertise in lung immune cells by looking within a particularly relevant immune context. Despite the commonality of influenza infection, the disease still causes significant worldwide mortality and morbidity which is likely to increase post-covid 19. We hope that by studying the changes in immune cells post-influenza we will increase understanding into the mechanisms with which influenza exerts its pathology, whilst characterising how influenza induced changes in the lung can contribute to altered susceptibility to future infection/disease. |