Dr Joy Edwards-Hicks
Joy Edwards-Hicks’ group investigates how age-related metabolic changes impact lymphocyte signalling and function.
The goal of their research is to promote healthy human ageing through reduced age-associated inflammation and improved aged lymphocyte function.
Dr Joy Edwards-Hicks
BBSRC Discovery Fellow
Biographical Profile
Dr Joy Edwards-Hicks studied Biomedicine at the University of East Anglia and obtained her BSc Hons degree in 2013. She moved to Edinburgh in the same year and studied for her PhD with Dr Andrew Finch at the Institute for Genetics and Cancer (IGC) where she developed a passion for metabolic research. From 2017, Dr Joy Edwards-Hicks carried out her postdoctoral studies with Professor Erika Pearce at the Max Planck Institute of Immunology and Epigenetics in Germany where she studied how metabolism regulates T cell signalling and function. In 2021, she moved to the University of Cambridge to work with Professor Christoph Hess on translational immunometabolism and was awarded a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship in 2023 to investigate how lipid metabolism regulates T cell ageing. In 2024, she was awarded an ESAT fellowship to start her group at the Institute for Regeneration and Repair (IRR).
Honours and Awards
- ESAT Fellowship, University of Edinburgh, 2024
Funding
- BBSRC Discovery Fellowship, 2023-2026
Selected Publications
Edwards-Hicks J, Apostolova P, Buescher JM, Maib H, Stanczak MA, Corrado M, Klein Geltink RI, Maccari ME, Villa M, Carrizo GE, Sanin DE, Baixauli F, Kelly B, Curtis JD, Haessler F, Patterson A, Field CS, Caputa G, Kyle RL, Soballa M, Cha M, Paul H, Martin J, Grzes KM, Flachsmann L, Mitterer M, Zhao L, Winkler F, Rafei-Shamsabadi DA, Meiss F, Bengsch B, Zeiser R, Puleston DJ, O'Sullivan D, Pearce EJ, Pearce EL. Phosphoinositide acyl chain saturation drives CD8+ effector T cell signaling and function. Nat Immunol. 2023 Mar;24(3):516-530. doi: 10.1038/s41590-023-01419-y. Epub 2023 Feb 2. PMID: 36732424; PMCID: PMC10908374.
Klein Geltink RI, Edwards-Hicks J, Apostolova P, O'Sullivan D, Sanin DE, Patterson AE, Puleston DJ, Ligthart NAM, Buescher JM, Grzes KM, Kabat AM, Stanczak M, Curtis JD, Hässler F, Uhl FM, Fabri M, Zeiser R, Pearce EJ, Pearce EL. Metabolic conditioning of CD8+ effector T cells for adoptive cell therapy. Nat Metab. 2020 Aug;2(8):703-716. doi: 10.1038/s42255-020-0256-z. Epub 2020 Aug 3. PMID: 32747793; PMCID: PMC10863625.
Corrado M, Edwards-Hicks J, Villa M, Flachsmann LJ, Sanin DE, Jacobs M, Baixauli F, Stanczak M, Anderson E, Azuma M, Quintana A, Curtis JD, Clapes T, Grzes KM, Kabat AM, Kyle R, Patterson AE, Geltink RK, Amulic B, Steward CG, Strathdee D, Trompouki E, O'Sullivan D, Pearce EJ, Pearce EL. Dynamic Cardiolipin Synthesis Is Required for CD8+ T Cell Immunity. Cell Metab. 2020 Dec 1;32(6):981-995.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.11.003. PMID: 33264603; PMCID: PMC7721104.
Edwards-Hicks J, Su H, Mangolini M, Yoneten KK, Wills J, Rodriguez-Blanco G, Young C, Cho K, Barker H, Muir M, Guerrieri AN, Li XF, White R, Manasterski P, Mandrou E, Wills K, Chen J, Abraham E, Sateri K, Qian BZ, Bankhead P, Arends M, Gammoh N, von Kriegsheim A, Patti GJ, Sims AH, Acosta JC, Brunton V, Kranc KR, Christophorou M, Pearce EL, Ringshausen I, Finch AJ. MYC sensitises cells to apoptosis by driving energetic demand. Nat Commun. 2022 Aug 9;13(1):4674. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32368-z. PMID: 35945217; PMCID: PMC9363429.