Emma Davenport

DPhil awarded 2014

Now (October 2022) Group Leader of the Davenport Group, Functional Genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK.

Functional genomics of the response to infection

My research uses a functional genomics approach to identify genetic determinants of the human response to infection in a number of patient cohorts. In particular, I am interested in characterising gene expression data from patients with severe sepsis in terms of survival and disease severity. I am mapping gene expression as a quantitative trait (eQTL) in order to determine context specific regulatory variants and yield new insights into the pathogenesis of sepsis.

In parallel, I am exploring the dynamic gene expression response to influenza challenge and using whole genome sequencing to investigate the genetic determinants of primary immune deficiencies associated with severe infection.

This combined approach, involving both rare and common determinants of host response to infection, should yield new insights into the genetic basis of infectious disease and potential novel targets for intervention.

I completed my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Oxford in 2010 and I am now studying for a DPhil in Clinical Medicine.