Claire Bourke

Claire Bourke serves as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Genomics and Child Health within the Blizard Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London. Her research program bridges immunology and global health through extensive fieldwork in sub-Saharan Africa, with primary collaborations at the Zvitambo Institute of Maternal and Child Health in Harare, Zimbabwe and the Tropical Gastroenterology and Nutrition group in Lusaka, Zambia.

Academic Background:

• BSc in Biological Sciences with Honours in Immunology from the University of Edinburgh
• PhD in Immunobiology of Human Parasitic Worm Infections from the University of Edinburgh, featuring extended fieldwork in rural Zimbabwe and collaboration with Copenhagen's Serum Statens Institute

Dr. Bourke's research centers on the bidirectional relationship between chronic systemic inflammation and immune cell dysfunction in high-mortality conditions affecting children in resource-limited settings. Her work specifically investigates malnutrition, HIV, and parasitic infections through population-based immunological studies across Africa. Current projects include characterizing innate immune cell defects in severe acute malnutrition, mapping early-life immune development factors during the first 1000 days, and elucidating cotrimoxazole's anti-inflammatory mechanisms in HIV-positive children. Her approach integrates clinical data, longitudinal cohort analysis, and in vitro immunological modeling to identify clinically actionable biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Analysis of her 2012-2019 publications reveals consistent focus on immunological mechanisms in parasitic diseases and comorbid conditions, with particular expertise in cytokine networks, monocyte function, and mucosal immunity. Her work demonstrates how helminth infections modulate immune responses across age groups and how antibiotic interventions alter microbiome-immune interactions in HIV. These studies frequently employ innovative methodologies including in vivo infection models, longitudinal cohort analyses, and multi-parameter immune phenotyping in field settings.

Scientific Recognition:

• Sir Henry Dale Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2017) from the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society

Dr. Bourke's research program is sustained through her prestigious Wellcome Trust/Royal Society fellowship and collaborative grants with African institutions. She leads multi-country studies involving complex immunological analyses of pediatric samples while maintaining active laboratory partnerships in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Her work demonstrates significant translational potential for improving clinical management of children with infection-prone conditions through immune-based diagnostics and interventions. While specific advisees aren't documented in available materials, her senior academic position involves mentoring postdoctoral researchers and contributing to graduate training in global immunology.

She maintains operational research capacity through continuous collaboration with the Zvitambo Institute's maternal-child health infrastructure in Zimbabwe and TROPGAN's nutritional gastroenterology expertise in Zambia. These partnerships enable longitudinal sample collection, clinical data integration, and real-world validation of immunological findings across diverse African settings, forming a critical platform for her investigations into immune dysfunction in resource-limited contexts.