Professor Rick Maizels FRSE FMedSci

Richard Maizels, Professor of Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, has made distinguished contributions to the far-reaching question of how parasites manipulate the immune system of their host. Studying human helminth parasites that establish long-term infection, he developed the conceptual framework of tolerance induction, and subsequently applied this to laboratory models to show tolerance is mediated in vivo by the suppressive regulatory T cell subset. Professor Maizels has driven this area of medical sciences towards an integrated understanding of parasite immunomodulation and host immunity that promises new molecular agents that can counter inflammatory disorders, and a clearer strategy to much-needed new vaccines against helminth infections in humans and livestock.