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2020 Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Infection and Immunity)
Jessica Tolland is currently undertaking a MPhil in the Experimental Rheumatology group led by Associate Professor Tony Kenna. Prior to starting her MPhil at QUT’s Centre for Immunology and Infection Control, she completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree with QUT in 2020.
Her MPhil project focuses on a devastating autoimmune disease called Scleroderma and how a potential environmental trigger of silica dust affects NK cells and CD4 T cells and in patients. Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease characterised by immune dysregulation, vasculopathy and progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. She has worked alongside bioinformaticians at the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation to analyse public single-cell RNA sequencing datasets to identify differentially expressed genes in T cells and NK cells and the subsequent activated immune pathways in Scleroderma and Scleroderma associated diseases. As part of her project, she will also be working on an in vitro model using PBMCs of Scleroderma patients and crystalline silica to perform flow cytometry, LEGENDplex and RNA sequencing for analysis. She was awarded a QUT Postgraduate Research Award Scholarship for her MPhil research. Alongside her studies, Jessica was a sessional academic for LQB292 Principles of Infection and Immunity with the School of Biomedical Science in semester 2 of 2022.
Jessica’s MPhil aims to investigate the influence of CD4 T cells and NK cells in Scleroderma patients and the effect that silica exposure has on these cell functions. Scleroderma has no effective treatment and therefore, understanding the immunopathogenesis of the disease is crucial for future effective drug development.