Fingerprint: Systems immunology, microbiota, vaccines, genomics, bioinformatics, trained immunity, gnotobiotic mice, clinical studies/trials.

Academic Qualifications: BA (Trinity College Dublin, Genetics; 2000), MSc (U. Ottawa, Bioinformatics & Bacterial Genomics; 2001), PhD (University College Dublin, Immunology; 2004).

Research Interests: Prof. David Lynn is Head of the Systems Immunology Laboratory and a Program Director in the SAHMRI Precision Medicine Theme; Scientific Director of SA Genomics Centre; and Professor in Systems Immunology at Flinders University. He leads a nationally and internationally regarded research program in systems immunology investigating how microbes (pathogenic and commensal) modulate the immune system in a range of contexts from infection (including COVID-19) to infant immunisation and cancer immunotherapy. He also has a strong interest in vaccine non-specific effects and trained immunity.

Recent discoveries include uncovering the role of the microbiota in vaccine responses (Cell Host Microbe 2018; Nature Reviews Immunology 2022), mammalian longevity (Cell Reports, 2021) and cancer immunotherapies (Cell Reports Medicine 2021). His team were the first to show that, in mice, antibiotic exposure in early life leads to impaired responses to 5 different infant vaccines that are administered worldwide, leading to an NHMRC-funded study in infants and significant funding from international vaccine company, GSK, in this area. Prof. Lynn also leads a number of other clinical studies including the COVID-19 vaccine immune responses study (Cell Reports Medicine 2022); and the NHMRC-funded antibiotics and vaccine immune responses study (AVIRS) and Vaccimum studies. Prof. Lynn was also the PI in South Australia for the Gates Foundation-funded (~$17M) BRACE BCG vaccine RCT (In Press).

Prof. Lynn is also a leader in genomics and computational biology research. His research team routinely apply a range of “omic” approaches including RNAseq, small RNAseq, epigenomics, and metagenomics. In recognition of his work in bioinformatics, he was awarded the 2018 Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society Mid-Career Researcher Award. His computational resources, such as InnateDB.com, are used by tens of thousands of researchers globally. Prof. Lynn also led the establishment of and is Scientific Director of the SA Genomics Centre, a NCRIS-supported state-wide genomics facility in SA.

Prof. Lynn has published 100+ peer-reviewed articles to date cited >10,000 times (Google Scholar) and in the last 10 years, was CI on projects worth >$30 million including from the NHMRC, European Commission, GSK, MRFF, and Cancer Australia.