Dr Jane Falconer

I'm a passionate educator delivering immunology content across Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. I'm also the lead for Phase 1 (Campus-based delivery) of MBChB Medicine based in the School of Medicine. This is a role that gives me oversight of medical sciences curriculum delivery and allows me to work closely with a wonderful, diverse, and inspiring team.

I taught several biomedical sciences, pharmacy, medicine and surgery courses before joining the University. I hold a PGCE in Secondary Science, which gives me a strong understanding of the prior learning our undergraduates were exposed to in schools.

• Chronic inflammation and immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID) with a focus on rheumatoid arthritis
• Immune and stromal cell metabolism
• T-cell recognition of antigens
• Cellular therapies for IMID and cancer

My group is currently undertaking funded post-doctoral, PhD, and undergraduate projects looking at:

• Metabolic enhancements for tolerogenic dendritic cell therapy, towards improved efficacy in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
• Metabolic enhancements for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, towards improved efficacy in solid and haematological malignancies.
• The role of cytokines in metabolic priming of adaptive immune responses.

• Lymphocyte biology
• Antigen processing and presentation
• Metabolism
• Stromal cell biology
• Chronic inflammation
• Immune-medicated inflammatory diseases (IMID)
• Cellular therapies

I completed a BSc (Hons) in Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Newcastle University before embarking upon a Nuffield Foundation-funded four-year PhD at the same institution as part of the Oliver Bird Rheumatism Programme. This incorporated an MRes in Medical and Molecular Biosciences and culminated in a thesis entitled ‘T-cell recognition of proteoglycan aggrecan, a candidate autoantigen in inflammatory arthritis'.

I carried out postdoctoral research investigating antigen presentation and CD4+ T-cell responses in the human rheumatoid arthritis joint and in the cystic fibrosis lung, and continued these research interests as a Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Northumbria University.

In 2014, I moved to University of Birmingham as a Research Fellow in Rheumatology and was promoted to Lecturer in Inflammation and Ageing in 2017.

I came to University of Sunderland in time for us to welcome our first cohort of medical students in 2019.

Throughout my career, I have worked with the Centre for Life in Newcastle upon Tyne delivering diverse public engagement programmes to school groups and the public.

I hold a PGCE in Secondary Science.