Professional background

Professor Emma Morris, MB BChir, MA, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci.

I graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1992 and subsequently trained at the Royal London Hospital, Guys Hospital and UCLH. I undertook a PhD in stem cell biology at the University of Cambridge prior to completing my postgraduate specialist training.

I have been a consultant since 2002 and have run my own research programme since 2005. I am now a UCL professor and director of the UCL division of infection and immunity. I am also director of the UCLH Biomedical Research Centre inflammation, immunity and Immunotherapeutics research theme.

My research group focuses on novel aspects of immune therapies for haematological malignancies and inherited immune deficiencies, predominantly cellular and gene therapy and more recently, gene editing. My clinical interest is in the field of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and gene therapy.

Research interests

  • Bone marrow transplantation for haematological malignancies and inherited immunodeficiencies
  • Cell therapy
  • Gene therapy

Publications

Clinical outcomes and risk factors for severe COVID-19 in patients with haematological disorders receiving chemo- or immunotherapy. Fox TA, Troy-Barnes E, Kirkwood AA, Chan WY, Day J, Chavda SJ, Kumar E, David K, Tomkins O, Sanchez E, Scully M, Khwaja A, Lambert J, Singer M, Roddie C, Morris EC, Yong KL, Thomson KJ, Ardeshna KM. Brit J Haem. 2020; In press.

HSCT for CGD? Yes, and the sooner the better. Emma C Morris.Blood. 2020; In Press.

Engineered T cells Flt around their targets. Emma C Morris. Nat Immunol. 2020; In Press.

Extended clinical and immunological phenotype and transplant outcome in CD27 and CD70 deficiency. Sujal Ghosh*, Sevgi Kostel Bal*, Emily Edwards*, et al. **On behalf of the Inborn Errors Working Party of ESID and EBMT.Blood. 2020; In Press.

Effective Lentiviral Gene Therapy for X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease. Donald B Kohn, Claire Booth, Elizabeth M Kang, Sung-Yun Pai, Kit L Shaw, Giorgia Santilli, Myriam Armant, Karen F. Buckland, Uimook Choi, Suk See De Ravin, Morna J Dorsey, Caroline Y Kuo, Diego Leon-Rico, Christine Rivat, Katie Snell, Jinhua Xu-Bayford, Emma C Morris, Dayna Terrazas, Leo D. Wang, Christopher Bauser, Geraldine Honnet, Peter Newburger, Frederic D Bushman, Manuel Grez, H Bobby Gaspar, David A Williams, Harry L Malech, Anne Galy, Adrian J Thrasher.

Nature Medicine. 2020 Feb;26(2):200-206. doi: 10.1038/s41591-019-0735-5. Epub 2020 Jan 27.

Framework engineering to produce dominant T cell receptors with enhanced antigen-specific function. Sharyn Thomas, Fiyaz Mohammed, Theresa Stauss, Alan Kennedy, David Stirling, David Jones, David Price, Mirjam H.M. Heemskerk, Emma Morris, Benjamin E. Willcox and Hans J Stauss. Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 1;10(1):4451. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12441-w. PMID: 31575864

Successful outcome following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in adult patients with inherited primary immunodeficiency. T Fox, R Chakraverty, S Burns, B Carpenter, K Thomson, D Lowe, A Fielding, K Peggs, P Kottaridis, V Grandage, V Bigley, M Buckland, S Denovan, S Grace, J Dahlstrom, S Workman, A Symes, S Mackinnon, R Hough, and E C Morris. Blood. 2017 Dec 26. pii: blood-2017-09-807487. doi: 10.1182/blood-2017-09-807487.

Editing gene engineering to enhance function. Morris EC. Blood. 2018 Jan 18;131(3):272-273. doi: 10.1182/blood-2017-11-816587.

Gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome in a severely affected adult. Morris EC, Fox T, Chakraverty R, Tendeiro R, Snell K, Rivat C, Grace S, Gilmour K, Workman S, Buckland K, Butler K, Chee R, Salama A, Hara H3, Duret C3, Mavilio F8, Bushman FD, Galy A, Burns SO, *Gaspar HB, *Thrasher AJ. [*Equal contribution]. Blood. 2017; Sep 14;130(11):1327-1335. doi: 10.1182/blood-2017-04-777136.

Guidelines on the management and admission to intensive care of critically ill adult patients with haematological malignancy in the UK. Wise MP, Barnes RA, Baudouin SV, Howell D, Lyttelton M, Marks DI, Morris EC, Parry-Jones N; British Committee for Standards in Haematology. Br J Haematol. 2015 Aug 19. doi: 10.1111/bjh.13594.

The evolution of cellular deficiency in GATA2 mutation. RE Dickinson, P Milne, et al. Blood. 2014 Feb 6;123(6):863-74.

WT1 peptide vaccination in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia induces short-lived WT1-specific immune responses. Uttenthal BJ*, Martinez-Davila I*, Ivey A, Craddock C, Chen F, Virchis A, Kottaridis P, Grimwade D, Khwaja A, Stauss H and Morris EC. Br J Haematol. 2014 Feb;164(3):366-75.

Improved ICU Survival for critically ill adult allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients following reduced intensity conditioning. A Holroyd, W Townsend, R Pearce, S Mackinnon, P Naik, AH Goldstone, DC Linch, KS Peggs, KJ Thomson, M Singer, DCJ Howell, and EC Morris. Br J Haematol. 2013 May;161(4):578-86.

CD3 limits the efficacy of TCR gene therapy in vivo. M Ahmadi, JW King, SA Xue, C Voisine, A Holler, GP Wright, J Waxman, EC Morris, and HJ Stauss. Blood 2011; 118(13): 3528-37.

Human T cells expressing affinity matured TCR display accelerated responses but fail to recognise low density of MHC/peptide antigen. S Thomas, SA Xue, C Bangham, B Jakobsen, EC Morris, and HJ Stauss. Blood 2011; Jul 14; 118(2): 319-29.

Specificity for tumor-associated self-antigen drives the development of functional memory T cells in the absence of vaccination. C Pospori, SA Xue, A Holler, C Voisine, M Perro, J King, F Fallah-Arani, B Flutter, HJ Stauss and EC Morris. Blood 2011; 117(25): 6813-24.

Donor-lymphocyte infusions modulate relapse risk in mixed chimeras and induce durable salvage in relapsed patients following T cell-depleted allogeneic transplantation for Hodgkin Lymphoma. K Peggs, I Kayani, N Chowdhry, P Kottaridis, AH Goldstone, D Linch, R Hough, E Morris, A Fielding, K Thomson and S Mackinnon. J Clin Oncol 2010; 29(8): 971-8.

Impact of in vivo alemtuzumab dose before reduced intensity conditioning and HLA-identical sibling stem cell transplantation: pharmacokinetics, GVHD and immune reconstitution. R Chakraverty, G Orti, M Roughton, J Shen, A Fielding, P Kottaridis, D Milligan, M Collin, C Crawley, H Roddie, A Clark, A Parker, A Bloor, R Pettengel, J Snowden, R Clark, G Hale, K Peggs, K Thomson, E Morris and S Mackinnon. Blood 2010; 116(16): 3080-8.

HLA-mismatched unrelated donors are a viable alternate graft source for allogeneic transplantation following alemtuzumab-based reduced intensity conditioning. A Mead, K Thomson, E Morris, S Mohamedbhai, G Orti, R Chakraverty, D Linch, S MacKinnon and KS Peggs. Blood 2010; 115(25):5147-53.

T cell depleted reduced intensity transplantation followed by donor leukocyte infusions to promote graft versus lymphoma activity results in excellent long term survival in patients with multiply relapsed follicular lymphoma. K Thomson, EC Morris, D Milligan, AN Parker, AE Hunter, G Cook, AJC Bloor, F Clark, M Kazmi, DC Linch, R Chakraverty, KS Peggs, and S Mackinnon. J Clin Oncol 2010; 28(23): 3695-700.

Prognostic role of PET scanning before and after reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation stem cell transplant for lymphoma. JR Lambert, JB Bomanji, KJ Thomson, KS Peggs, RK Chakraverty, A Fielding, Panagiotis D Kottaridis, EC Morris, AH Goldstone, DC Linch, PJ Ell & S Mackinnon..Blood 2010; 115(14): 2763-8.

Generation of antigen-specific multi-functional human T cells by lentiviral TCR gene transfer. M Perro, J Tsang, SA Xue, D Escors, M Cesco-Gaspere, C Pospori, L Gao, D Hart, M Collins, H Stauss and E Morris. Gene Therapy 2010; 17(6): 721-32.

Favorable long-term survival following reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation for multiply relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. KJ Thomson, EC Morris, A Bloor, G Cook, D Milligan, A Parker, F Clark, L Yung, DC Linch, R Chakraverty, KS Peggs, and S Mackinnon. J Clin Oncol 2009; 27(3):426-32.