Medical Research

Biography

Jay Horvat is a Professor in Immunology and Microbiology with a keen interest in the investigation and therapeutic targeting of infection and inflammation-induced diseases of the respiratory, reproductive and gastrointestinal tracts and of the central nervous system. His major focus is on asthma and respiratory diseases.

Excessive inflammation and dysregulated immune responses play a key role in asthma and many other diseases that affect millions of Australians. Jay is working with a range of research teams to better understand fundamental biological processes that influence inflammatory cells and responses in order to discover new cost-effective methods for controlling inflammation in a range of different diseases with a focus on those with high socioeconomic burden and that currently have poor or no effective therapeutic options.

Two of his major areas of research focus on understanding how obesity, sex hormones and different types of infections affect immune responses in the airways of people with asthma to drive more severe, poorly controlled forms of disease and how the inter-relationship between immunity and iron regulation affects the pathogenesis and susceptibility to bacterial and viral infection in lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema/COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

What are your research interests?

• Role and therapeutic targeting of dysregulated iron handling in infection and inflammatory diseases of the lung
• Role and therapeutic manipulation of sex hormones in influencing biological processes that underpin inflammatory conditions such as asthma and pelvic pain
• Understanding the effects of different occupational and environment particulate matter exposures on respiratory health outcomes in order to identify more effective prevention and treatment strategies

Why did you get into research?

From an early age I have always been one of those people that needs to know how and why things work. When I enrolled in a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at the University of Newcastle I was blown away by how amazing the biology of the human body is and knew straight away that a career in medical research and teaching was perfect for me. I quickly became fascinated in immunology and microbiology and have focused my work on understanding how infections and immune responses interact with and/or disrupt biological processes in the body in order to promote a number of inflammatory diseases for which we currently have poor treatment options.
 

What would be the ultimate goal for your research?

My overarching goal is to use knowledge gained from my research to identify new, more effective therapies or management strategies for diseases such as asthma, emphysema, influenza, multiple sclerosis and pelvic inflammatory disease.

I also take great pride through both my research and teaching in fostering the next generation of medical researchers. We have a very young group of brilliant and enthusiastic scientists that I would love to see go on to be successful researchers making waves on a national and international scale.
 

Specialised/Technical Skills

I have extensive experience in the development and analysis of highly representative clinical and experimental models of a number of infection and inflammation-induced diseases of different organ systems. I not only utilise the models that I develop to help discover new pathological processes that underpin disease but also test novel therapies that target these processes for the improved treatment of disease.
 

Affiliations

• PRC for Healthy Lungs, University of Newcastle
• Co-convenor of the Asthma and Allergy Special Interest Group, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
• Member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand