Topping the highly cited researcher list for a second year in a row
Two Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) researchers have been recognised for their exceptional research performance, determined by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top one per cent by citations for a field and year.
Professor Jamie Rossjohn and Professor Charles Mackay have each been ranked as a 2019 Highly Cited Researcher in the prestigious list released in November by Carivate Analytics.
Professor Rossjohn’s research focus is on using structural biology to explain pre-T- cell receptor (TCR) self-association in T-cell development, and how the TCR specifically recognises polymorphic Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) molecules in the context of viral immunity and aberrant T- cell reactivity. He has unearthed structural mechanisms of HLA polymorphism impacting on drug and food hypersensitivities, as well as Natural Killer cell receptor recognition. He has pioneered molecular understanding of lipid-based immunity by T cells, revealing that it can differ fundamentally from peptide-mediated adaptive immunity.
Professor Mackay has forged a new understanding of the gut microbiome and the important role it plays in immune responses including allergies and in a number of diseases including type 1 diabetes. His research into how immune responses can be manipulated using ‘medicinal foods’, as well as novel gut microbial species, is attracting both clinical and public interest, with the latest research findings moving to clinical trials.
Professor Mackay was highly cited from 2005 to 2010 under what was then the Institute for Scientific Information citation, and has remained on the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher list since 2017.
Professor John Carroll, Director of the Monash BDI, congratulated both researchers on their achievement.
“By making the Highly Cited Researcher list two years running, Jamie and Charles have demonstrated their continued leadership in the field of immunology,” Professor Carroll said.
The Highly Cited Researcher list, now in its sixth year, determines the ‘who’s who’ of influential researchers, drawing on data and analysis to identify the world’s leading researchers who have demonstrated significant and broad influence. Seventeen researchers from Monash were recognised this year.
