David Booth
Professor
Immunogenetics Group
The westmead Institute for Medical Research
Australia
Biography
Prof David Booth received his PhD from the University of London in 1993 and has since worked on the genetics of human diseases such as amyloidosis, periodic fevers, multiple sclerosis (MS) and hepatitis C. His postdoctoral work, which examined amyloidosis, was conducted at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and the Royal Free Hospital in London. He returned to Australia in 2001 to join Prof Stewart at the Westmead Institute’s Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research to study MS genetics. In international collaborations, the first 110 genes affecting MS have now been discovered, and this work has been published in Nature (2011) and Nature Genetics (2013).
Research Interest
His main research goal is to find clinical applications for MS genetic discoveries, especially to find molecular biomarkers to aid clinical management of MS, including for therapeutic response. Notably, his group has now identified three immune cell types of MS, and is testing their clinical applicability. They have also identified the likely mechanism for the association of the vitamin D genes with MS, and are investigating how to use this information to better use the vitamin D pathway to reduce MS risk. His group aims to translate their genetic discoveries in other diseases, notably chronic hepatitis C disease, into clinical practice. They provide a genetic testing service based on their research findings for drug response for this disease, and for familial amyloidosis.
Publications
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Data characterizing the ZMIZ1 molecular phenotype of multiple sclerosis.
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Altered regulatory T-cell fractions and Helios expression in clinically isolated syndrome: clues to the development of multiple sclerosis.
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A novel immune biomarker IFI27 discriminates between influenza and bacteria in patients with suspected respiratory infection.
