Rebecca A. Drummond

Rebecca Drummond is a fungal immunologist researching mechanisms of immunity that protect us from fungal pathogens, such as Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans.

Her lab is particularly interested in how organ-specific immune responses develop by studying the behaviour of tissue-resident myeloid cells during infection and the microbial response to the environment within host tissues.

Rebecca completed her BSc in Immunology with Honours at the University of Edinburgh in 2010. She then moved to the University of Aberdeen and joined the Aberdeen Fungal Group, where she earned her PhD in 2014. Rebecca’s doctoral research focused on understanding mechanisms of adaptive antifungal immunity and revealed a novel role for the innate receptor Dectin-1 in the gut (Drummond et al, 2016, Mucosal Immunology), as well as identifying defects in the fungal-specific T-cell response in the kidney (Drummond et al, 2014, JI).

In 2014, Rebecca moved to the USA to work at the National Institutes of Health. Here, she primarily focused on understanding the pathogenesis of human CARD9 deficiency, a primary immunodeficiency disease that predisposes to fungal infection of the brain (Drummond et al, 2015, PLoS Pathogens).

In 2018, Rebecca was awarded a Birmingham Fellow position to set up her own research group at the University of Birmingham.