The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Toby’s research has focused on dendritic cells, which are crucial antigen presenting cells of the immune system. These cells start the rejection process of kidney transplants, but in certain situations they dampen immune responses and potentially induce tolerance. Toby’s research in the laboratory has focused on how kidney transplant medications affect the function of dendritic cells in the blood after kidney transplant. Ultimately it is hoped that changes in blood dendritic cell numbers and function may allow him to predict those patients in whom transplant drugs can be safely reduced without increasing the risk of rejection. He have also investigated how kidney failure also contributes of defects in dendritic cell function and also the role that dendritic cells play in rejection of kidney transplants by studying the expression of dendritic cell markers in the urine of renal transplant recipients.