Staff Profile

Background

Muzlifah Haniffa is a dermatologist pioneering the applications of single cell genomics technologies to understand tissue homeostasis, immunity and disease pathogenesis.  A major research goal of her laboratory is to decode the development and functional maturation of the human immune system.  

Muzz was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020. Her work has been recognised by a number of awards including the Foulkes Foundation Medal (2019), ACTERIA Prize awarded by the European Federation of Immunological Societies (2018), Lister Institute Research Prize (2016), European Society for Dermatology Research LEO Pharma Research Foundation Silver Award (2013), British Society for Investigative Dermatology Young Investigator Award (2012) and the Sue McCarthy Prize (runner-up) for the UK Medical Research Society Young Investigator Award (2009).  She was a previous recipient of a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (2010-2015) and an Action Medical Research Training Fellowship (2005-2008).  

She leads a Wellcome Trust funded public engagement programme called Inside Skin, an interdisciplinary dialogue between science and art relating to skin and the immune system in collaboration with the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts and Culture Lab.  A video tour of her exhibition and interview are available through the following links:  https://vimeo.com/182069076 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqarWQm0jLQ.  

Muzz is an Associate Faculty at Wellcome Sanger Institute.  She is passionate about training and mentoring the next generation of clinicians and research scientists.  

Qualifications

1999                           BSc. (First Class Hons), MBBCh (Hons), University of Wales College of  Medicine 

2002                           MRCP, Royal College of Physicians London

2007                           Diploma in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

2009                           PhD, Newcastle University

2010                           Certificate of Completion of Training in Dermatology

Research Group members:

Research assistant: Emily Stephenson, Issac Goh, Justin Engelbert

PhD students: James Fletcher, David Dixon, Daniel Maunder, Simone Webb

Post-doctoral research associate: Peter Vegh, Dorin-Mirel Popescu, Kile Green, Rachel Botting

Academic Clinical Lecturer: Gary Reynolds, Laura Jardine

Clinical research trainees: Katie Best, Beth Poyner, Meghan Acres

Alumni: Naomi McGovern, Merry Gunawan 

• Park J-E, Botting RA, Dominguez Conde C, Popescu D-M, Lavaert M, Kunz DJ, Goh I, Stephenson E, Ragazzini R, Tuck E, Wilbrey-Clark A, Roberts K, Kedlian VR, Ferdinand JR, He X, Webb S, Maunder D, Vandamme N, Mahbubani KT, Polanski K, Mamanova L, Bolt L, Crossland D, de Rita F, Fuller A, Filby A, Reynolds G, Dixon D, Saeb-Parsy K, Lisgo S, Henderson D, Vento-Tormo R, Bayraktar OA, Barker RA, Meyer KB, Saeys Y, Bonfanti P, Behjati S, Clatworthy MR, Taghon T, Haniffa M, Teichmann SA. A cell atlas of human thymic development defines T cell repertoire formation. Science 2020, 367(6480), eaay3224.
• Jardine L, Cytlak U, Gunawan M, Reynolds G, Green K, Wang XN, Pagan S, Paramitha M, Lamb CA, Long A, Hurst E, Nair S, Jackson GH, Publicover A, Bigley V, Haniffa M, Simpson AJ, Collin M. Donor monocyte-derived macrophages promote human acute graft-versus-host disease. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2020, 130(9), 4574-4586.
• Davidson S, Efremova M, Riedel A, Mahata B, Pramanik J, Huuhtanen J, Kar G, Vento-Tormo R, Hagai T, Chen X, Haniffa MA, Shields JD, Teichmann SA. Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals a Dynamic Stromal Niche That Supports Tumor Growth. Cell Reports 2020, 31(7), 107628.
• Botting RA, Haniffa M. The developing immune network in human prenatal skin. Immunology 2020, 160(2), 149-156.
• Poyner EFM, Dubois A, Haniffa M. Are regulatory T cells associated with cutaneous viral infections?. British Journal of Dermatology 2019, 180(6), 1294-1294.
• Popescu DM, Botting RA, Stephenson E, Green K, Webb S, Jardine L, Calderbank EF, Polanski K, Goh I, Efremova M, Acres M, Maunder D, Vegh P, Gitton Y, Park JE, Vento-Tormo R, Miao Z, Dixon D, Rowell R, McDonald D, Fletcher J, Poyner E, Reynolds G, Mather M, Moldovan C, Mamanova L, Greig F, Young MD, Meyer KB, Lisgo S, Bacardit J, Fuller A, Millar B, Innes B, Lindsay S, Stubbington MJT, Kowalczyk MS, Li B, Ashenberg O, Tabaka M, Dionne D, Tickle TL, Slyper M, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Filby A, Carey P, Villani AC, Roy A, Regev A, Chédotal A, Roberts I, Göttgens B, Behjati S, Laurenti E, Teichmann SA, Haniffa M. Decoding human fetal liver haematopoiesis. Nature 2019, 574, 365–371.
• Bertram KM, Botting RA, Baharlou H, Rhodes JW, Rana H, Graham JD, Patrick E, Fletcher J, Plasto TM, Truong NR, Royle C, Doyle CM, Tong O, Nasr N, Barnouti L, Kohout MP, Brooks AJ, Wines MP, Haertsch P, Lim J, Gosselink MP, Ctercteko G, Estes JD, Churchill MJ, Cameron PU, Hunter E, Haniffa MA, Cunningham AL, Harman AN. Identification of HIV transmitting CD11c+ human epidermal dendritic cells. Nature Communications 2019, 10(1), 2759.
• Jardine L, Wiscombe S, Reynolds G, McDonald D, Fuller A, Green K, Filby A, Forrest I, Ruchaud-Sparagano MH, Scott J, Collin M, Haniffa M, Simpson AJ. Lipopolysaccharide inhalation recruits monocytes and dendritic cell subsets to the alveolar airspace. Nature Communications 2019, 10, 1999.
• Stewart BJ, Ferdinand JR, Young MD, Mitchell TJ, Loudon KW, Riding AM, Richoz N, Frazer GL, Staniforth JUL, Braga FAV, Botting RA, Popescu D-M, Vento-Tormo R, Stephenson E, Cagan A, Farndon SJ, Polanski K, Efremova M, Green K, Velasco-Herrera MDC, Guzzo C, Collord G, Mamanova L, Aho T, Armitage JN, Riddick ACP, Mushtaq I, Farrell S, Rampling D, Nicholson J, Filby A, Burge J, Lisgo S, Lindsay S, Bajenoff M, Warren AY, Stewart GD, Sebire N, Coleman N, Haniffa M, Teichmann SA, Behjati S, Clatworthy MR. Spatiotemporal immune zonation of the human kidney. Science 2019, 365(6460), 1461-1466.
• Hagai T, Chen X, Miragaia RJ, Rostom R, Gomes T, Kunowska N, Henriksson J, Park JE, Proserpio V, Donati G, Bossini-Castillo L, Vieira Braga FA, Naamati G, Fletcher J, Stephenson E, Vegh P, Trynka G, Kondova I, Dennis M, Haniffa M, Nourmohammad A, Lässig M, Teichmann SA. Gene expression variability across cells and species shapes innate immunity. Nature 2018, 563(7730), 197-202.
• Vento-Tormo R, Efremova M, Botting RA, Turco MY, Vento-Tormo M, Meyer KB, Park JE, Stephenson E, Polański K, Goncalves A, Gardner L, Holmqvist S, Henriksson J, Zou A, Sharkey AM, Millar B, Innes B, Wood L, Wilbrey-Clark A, Payne RP, Ivarsson MA, Lisgo S, Filby A, Rowitch DH, Bulmer JN, Wright GJ, Stubbingon MJT, Haniffa M, Moffett A, Teichmann SA. Single-cell reconstruction of the early maternal–fetal interface in humans. Nature 2018, 563, 347-353.
• Young MD, Mitchell TJ, Vieira Braga FA, Tran MGB, Stewart BJ, Ferdinand JR, Collord G, Botting RA, Popescu D-M, Loudon KW, Vento-Tormo R, Stephenson E, Cagan A, Farndon SJ, Velasco-Herrera MDC, Guzzo C, Richoz N, Mamanova L, Aho T, Armitage JN, Riddick ACP, Mushtaq I, Farrell S, Rampling D, Nicholson J, Filby A, Burge J, Lisgo S, Maxwell PH, Lindsay S, Warren AY, Stewart GD, Sebire N, Coleman N, Haniffa M, Teichmann SA, Clatworthy M, Behjati S. Single-cell transcriptomes from human kidneys reveal the cellular identity of renal tumors. Science 2018, 361(6402), 594-599.
• Vegh P, Haniffa M. The impact of single-cell RNA sequencing on understanding the functional organization of the immune system. Briefings in Functional Genomics 2018, 17(4), 265-272.
• McGovern N, Shin A, Low G, Low D, Duan K, Yao LJ, Msallam R, Low I, Shadan NB, Sumatoh HR, Soon E, Lum J, Mok E, Hubert S, See P, Kunxiang EH, Lee YH, Janela B, Choolani M, Mattar CNZ, Fan Y, Lim TKH, Hong DK, Tan KK, Tam JKC, Schuster C, Elbe-Bürger A, Wang XN, Bigley V, Collin M, Haniffa M, Schlitzer A, Poidinger M, Albani S, Larbi A, Newell EW, Chan JKY, Ginhoux F. Human fetal dendritic cells promote prenatal T-cell immune suppression through arginase-2. Nature 2017, 546, 662-666.
• See P, Dutertre C-A, Chen J, Gunther P, McGovern N, Irac SE, Gunawan M, Beyer M, Handler K, Duan K, Sumatoh HRB, Ruffin N, Jouve M, Gea-Mallorqui E, Hennekam RCM, Lim T, Yip CC, Wen M, Malleret B, Low I, Shadan NB, Fen CFS, Tay A, Lum J, Zolezzi F, Larbi A, Poidinger M, Chan JKY, Chen Q, Renia L, Haniffa M, Benaroch P, Schlitzer A, Schultze JL, Newell EW, Ginhoux F. Mapping the human DC lineage through the integration of high-dimensional techniques. Science 2017, 356(6339), 1-23.
• Villani A-C, Satija R, Reynolds G, Sarkizova S, Shekhar K, Fletcher J, Griesbeck M, Butler A, Zheng S, Lazo S, Jardine L, Dixon D, Stephenson E, Nilsson E, Grundberg I, McDonald D, Filby A, Li W, De Jager PL, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Lane AA, Haniffa M, Regev A, Hacohen N. Single-cell RNA-seq reveals new types of human blood dendritic cells, monocytes, and progenitors. Science 2017, 356(6335), eaah4573.
• Pallett LJ, Gill US, Quaglia A, Sinclair LV, Jover-Cobos M, Schurich A, Singh KP, Thomas N, Das A, Chen A, Fusai G, Bertoletti A, Cantrell DA, Kennedy PT, Davies NA, Haniffa M, Maini MK. Metabolic regulation of hepatitis B immunopathology by myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Nature Medicine 2015, 21(6), 591-600.
• Pallett L, Gill U, Jover-Cobos M, Schurich A, Singh K, Thomas N, Das A, Chen A, Fusai G, Bertoletti A, Kennedy P, Davies N, Haniffa M, Maini M. Arginase-dependent metabolic regulation of hepatic immunopathology by myeloid-derived suppressor cells. In: British Society for Immunology Annual Congress. 2014, Brighton, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
• McGovern N, Schlitzer A, Gunawan M, Jardine L, Shin A, Poyner E, Green K, Dickinson R, Wang XN, Low D, Best K, Covins S, Milne P, Pagan S, Aljefri K, Windebank M, Saavedra DM, Larbi A, Wasan PS, Duan K, Poidinger M, Bigley V, Ginhoux F, Collin M, Haniffa M. Human Dermal CD14⁺ Cells Are a Transient Population of Monocyte-Derived Macrophages. Immunity 2014, 41(3), 465-477.
• Schlitzer A, McGovern N, Teo P, Zelante T, Atarashi K, Low D, Ho AW, See P, Shin A, Wasan PS, Hoeffel G, Malleret B, Heiseke A, Chew S, Jardine L, Purvis HA, Hilkens CM, Tam J, Poidinger M, Stanley ER, Krug AB, Renia L, Sivasankar B, Ng LG, Collin M, Ricciardi-Castagnoli P, Honda K, Haniffa M, Ginhoux F. IRF4 Transcription Factor-Dependent CD11b⁺ Dendritic Cells in Human and Mouse Control Mucosal IL-17 Cytokine Responses. Immunity 2013, 38(5), 970-983.
• Haniffa M, Shin A, Bigley V, McGovern N, Teo P, See P, Wasan PS, Wang XN, Malinarich F, Malleret B, Larbi A, Tan P, Zhao H, Poidinger M, Pagan S, Cookson S, Dickinson R, Dimmick I, Jarrett RF, Renia L, Tam J, Song C, Connolly J, Chan JK, Gehring A, Bertoletti A, Collin M, Ginhoux F. Human Tissues Contain CD141^hi Cross-Presenting Dendritic Cells with Functional Homology to Mouse CD103⁺ Nonlymphoid Dendritic Cells. Immunity 2012, 37(1), 60-73.
• Hambleton S, Salem S, Bustamente J, Bigley V, Boisson-Dupuis S, Azevedo J, Fortin A, Haniffa M, Ceron-Gutierrez C, Bacon CM, Menon G, Trouillet C, McDonald D, Carey P, Ginhoux F, Alsina L, Zumwalt TJ, Kong X, Kumararatne D, Butler K, Hubeau M, Feinberg J, Al-Muhsen S, Cant A, Abel L, Chaussabel D, Doffinger R, Talesnik E, Grumach A, Duarte A, Abarca K, Moraes-Vasconcelos D, Burk D, Berghuis A, Geissmann F, Collin M, Casanova J-L, Gros P. IRF8 Mutations and Human Dendritic-Cell Immunodeficiency. New England Journal of Medicine 2011, 365(2), 127-138.
• Haniffa M, Ginhoux F, Wang XN, Bigley V, Abel M, Dimmick I, Bullock S, Grisotto M, Booth T, Taub P, Hilkens C, Merad M, Collin M. Differential rates of replacement of human dermal dendritic cells and macrophages during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Journal of Experimental Medicine 2009, 206(2), 371-385.
• Haniffa MA, Wang XN, Holtick U, Rae M, Isaacs JD, Dickinson AM, Hilkens CM, Collin MP. Adult Human Fibroblasts Are Potent Immunoregulatory Cells and Functionally Equivalent to Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Journal of Immunology 2007, 179(3), 1595-1604.