Dr Graham Taylor BSc PhD

Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Senior Lecturer in Tumour Immunology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6425
Email
g.s.taylor@bham.ac.uk
Address
Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
School of Cancer Sciences Building
Vincent Drive
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Graham is a Senior Lecturer/Senior Research Fellow with an interest in viral and cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Graham's work has led to a therapeutic cancer vaccine that has undergone testing in several clinical trials. 

Qualifications

  • PhD Virology, 1998
  • BSc Cell and Molecular Biology, 1994

Biography

After graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Cell and Molecular Biology Graham went on to study for a PhD in Virology at the University of Warwick. Graham then worked as a clinical scientist in a front-line diagnostic virology laboratory before joining the School of Cancer Sciences in 2000.

Graham worked in Prof Alan Rickinson's Epstein-Barr virus research group as a post doc before starting his own independent group after securing an MRC New Investigator Award.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Graham is happy to discuss opportunities to undertake research study in his laboratory, either in the areas described in his research biography or in other settings.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Graham Taylor directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Research

The main aim of Graham’s work is to increase our knowledge of the immune system in health and disease and how best to harness the immune system to treat cancer. Current research programmes in basic and translational research include the following.

Antigen Processing and Presentation

We study the basic biology of how antigens are processed and presented by MHC II molecules for recognition by CD4+ T cells – aiming eventually to manipulate these pathways to improve tumour cell killing.

Therapeutic Vaccination to Treat Cancer

Working with colleagues locally, nationally and internationally we have developed a therapeutic vaccine to treat nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a type of head and neck cancer that is associated with Epstein Barr Virus. Our vaccine has completed successful safety testing in phase I clinical trials and, following administration to patients, increases immune responses to EBV proteins that are present in the tumour cells. Subsequent Phase IB and Phase II trials of the vaccine are on-going.

Tumour Immunology

In collaboration with clinical colleagues we study the immunology of several cancers. Most work is currently focusing on Epstein-Barr virus associated cancers (200,000 cases each year). Gastric cancer and DLBCL are of particular interest and the 10% of cases that are EBV-positive could be highly susceptible to appropriate immunotherapies. We are therefore seeking ways to move our therapeutic vaccine into these disease settings. Other interests include extranodal NK-T-cell lymphoma, a rare but highly aggressive cancer and bladder cancer.

Role of Epstein Barr Virus in autoimmune disease

Finally, EBV infection is associated not only with certain types of cancer but also multiple sclerosis. A new project, in collaboration with neurologists, has been recently started to try and understand how EBV infection is linked to this autoimmune disease

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Jackson, HK, Long, HM, Yam鈥怭uc, JC, Palmulli, R, Haigh, TA, Gerber, PP, Lee, JS, Matheson, NJ, Young, L, Trowsdale, J, Lo, M, Taylor, GS, Thaventhiran, JE & Edgar, JR 2024, '', Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, vol. 13, no. 2, e12412.

Syrimi, E, Khan, N, Murray, P, Willcox, C, Haigh, T, Willcox, B, Masand, N, Bowen, C, Dimakou, DB, Zuo, J, Barone, SM, Irish, JM, Kearns, P & Taylor, GS 2024, '', iScience.

Zhang, Z, Kean, IRL, Dratva, LM, Clark, JA, Syrimi, E, Khan, N, Daubney, E, White, D, O鈥橬eill, L, Chisholm, C, Payne, C, Benkenstein, S, Kupiec, K, Galassini, R, Wright, V, Winmill, H, Robbins, C, Brown, K, Ramnarayan, P, Scholefield, B, Peters, M, Klein, N, Montgomery, H, Meyer, KB, Teichmann, SA, Bryant, C, Taylor, G & Pathan, N 2024, '', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 4227.

Thomas, OG, Haigh, TA, Croom-Carter, D, Leese, A, Van Wijck, Y, Douglas, MR, Rickinson, A, Brooks, JM & Taylor, GS 2024, '', PLoS Pathogens, vol. 20, no. 6, e1012177.

Costigan, D, Fenn, J, Yen, S, Ilott, N, Bullers, S, Hale, J, Greenhalf, W, Conibear, E, Koycheva, A, Madon, K, Jahan, I, Huang, M, Badhan, A, Parker, E, Rosadas, C, Jones, K, McClure, M, Tedder, R, Taylor, G, Baillie, KJ, Semple, MG, Openshaw, PJM, Pearson, C, Johnson, J, Lalvani, A & Thornton, EE 2023, '', Mucosal immunology.

Payne, K, Brooks, J, Batis, N, Khan, N, El-Asrag, M, Nankivell, P, Mehanna, H & Taylor, G 2023, '', British Journal of Cancer, vol. 129, no. 10, pp. 1590-1598.

Muckian, MD, Wilson, JF, Taylor, GS, Stagg, HR & Pirastu, N 2023, '', BMC Infectious Diseases, vol. 23, no. 1, 65.

Payne, K, Brooks, J, Batis, N, Taylor, G, Nankivell, P & Mehanna, H 2022, '', Head & Neck, vol. 44, no. 11, pp. 1-10.

Dowell, AC, Butler, MS, Jinks, E, Tut, G, Lancaster, T, Sylla, P, Begum, J, Bruton, R, Pearce, H, Verma, K, Logan, N, Tyson, G, Spalkova, E, Margielewska-Davies, S, Taylor, GS, Syrimi, E, Baawuah, F, Beckmann, J, Okike, IO, Ahmad, S, Garstang, J, Brent, AJ, Brent, B, Ireland, G, Aiano, F, Amin-Chowdhury, Z, Jones, S, Borrow, R, Linley, E, Wright, J, Azad, R, Waiblinger, D, Davis, C, Thomson, EC, Palmarini, M, Willett, BJ, Barclay, WS, Poh, J, Amirthalingam, G, Brown, KE, Ramsay, ME, Zuo, J, Moss, P & Ladhani, S 2022, '', Nature Immunology, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 40-49.

Bombaci, G, Sarangdhar, MA, Andina, N, Tardivel, A, Yu, ECW, Mackie, GM, Pugh, M, Ozan, VB, Banz, Y, Spinetti, T, Hirzel, C, Youd, E, Schefold, JC, Taylor, G, Gazdhar, A, Bonadies, N, Angelillo-Scherrer, A, Schneider, P, Maslowski, KM & Allam, R 2022, '', Life Science Alliance, vol. 5, no. 6, e202101226.

Tye, E, Jinks, E, Haigh, T, Kaul, B, Patel, P, Parry, H, Newby, M, Crispin, M, Kaur, N, Moss, P, Drennan, S, Taylor, G & Long, H 2022, '', Nature Immunology, vol. 23, pp. 1726鈥�1734.

Khan, A, Reyat, J, Hill, H, Bourne, J, Colicchia, M, Newby, ML, Allen, JD, Crispin, M, Youd, E, Murray, P, Taylor, G, Stamataki, Z, Richter, A, Cunningham, A, Pugh, M & Rayes, J 2022, '', Cardiovascular Research, vol. 118, no. 15, pp. 3085鈥�3096.

Vimalachandran, D, Jones, RP, Dickson, E, Seehra, J, Acheson, A, Griffiths, EA, Kamarajah, S, Leung, E, Torrance, A, Ottensmeier, C, Beggs, AD, Whiteside, E, Sanna, H, Bury, D, Youd, E, Leopold, G, Pugh, M, Sundar, S & Taylor, GS 2022, '', British Journal of Surgery.

Preprint

Pugh, M, Fennell, E, Leahy, CI, Perry, T, Hargitai, B, Marton, T, Hunter, K, Halford, G, Yilmaz, HO, Stamataki, Z, Reynolds, G, Hill, HJ, Willcox, BE, Steven, N, Thornton, CA, Dojcinov, SD, Culhane, A, Murray, PG & Taylor, GS 2022 '' bioRxiv.

Review article

Bilal, M, Nimir, M, Snead, D, Taylor, GS & Rajpoot, N 2023, '', British Journal of Cancer, vol. 128, no. 1, pp. 3-11.