Adrian Hayday

Biography

Adrian Hayday trained in biochemistry at Cambridge, and was awarded a PhD in virology by Imperial College, London. He began studying immunology in 1982 at M.I.T., where he identified a key molecular event underpinning Burkitts Lymphoma. Thereafter, he first described the genes that define a set of white blood cells – known as gamma-delta T cells – that no one had anticipated to exist. At Yale, at King’s College London, and at the Francis Crick Institute, Adrian has established that gamma-delta T cells are distinct from other lymphocytes, commonly monitoring the overall state of the tissues rather than any specific infections. Indeed, Adrian’s team provided evidence that gamma-delta T cells increase resistance to cancers caused by environmental carcinogens, and he and his colleagues are developing clinical strategies to employ gamma-delta T cells for cancer immunotherapy. Adrian has received numerous awards, including the William Clyde deVane Medal, Yale’s highest honour for scholarship and teaching. He was elected to head the British Society of Immunology (2005-09), to the Academy of Medical Sciences (in 2000), and to the Royal Society (2016). He currently chairs the Cancer Research UK science committee. 

Research Interest

  immunology