Staff Profile

I studied Biomedical Science at the University of Technology of Sydney, during which I spent a year researching gene therapy targeting liver metabolic diseases at the Children’s Medical Research Institute. I undertook by PhD with the University of Sydney at the Westmead Institute, where I researched sexual transmission of HIV, specifically focusing on the involvement of cells found in the human anogenital tract. I’m currently working in the Haniffa lab at the Biosciences Institute, University of Newcastle, where I use single-cell technologies to investigate human development, immunopoiesis and COVID-19.

Areas of expertise

• Immunology
• Virology
• Development biology

Google scholar: Click here.

• Park J-E, Botting RA, Dominguez Conde C, Popescu D-M, Lavaert M, Kunz DJ, Goh I, Stephenson E, Ragazzini R, Tuck E, Wilbrey-Clark A, Roberts K, Kedlian VR, Ferdinand JR, He X, Webb S, Maunder D, Vandamme N, Mahbubani KT, Polanski K, Mamanova L, Bolt L, Crossland D, de Rita F, Fuller A, Filby A, Reynolds G, Dixon D, Saeb-Parsy K, Lisgo S, Henderson D, Vento-Tormo R, Bayraktar OA, Barker RA, Meyer KB, Saeys Y, Bonfanti P, Behjati S, Clatworthy MR, Taghon T, Haniffa M, Teichmann SA. A cell atlas of human thymic development defines T cell repertoire formation. Science 2020, 367(6480), eaay3224.
• Botting RA, Haniffa M. The developing immune network in human prenatal skin. Immunology 2020, 160(2), 149-156.
• Bertram KM, Botting RA, Baharlou H, Rhodes JW, Rana H, Graham JD, Patrick E, Fletcher J, Plasto TM, Truong NR, Royle C, Doyle CM, Tong O, Nasr N, Barnouti L, Kohout MP, Brooks AJ, Wines MP, Haertsch P, Lim J, Gosselink MP, Ctercteko G, Estes JD, Churchill MJ, Cameron PU, Hunter E, Haniffa MA, Cunningham AL, Harman AN. Identification of HIV transmitting CD11c+ human epidermal dendritic cells. Nature Communications 2019, 10(1), 2759.
• Popescu DM, Botting RA, Stephenson E, Green K, Webb S, Jardine L, Calderbank EF, Polanski K, Goh I, Efremova M, Acres M, Maunder D, Vegh P, Gitton Y, Park JE, Vento-Tormo R, Miao Z, Dixon D, Rowell R, McDonald D, Fletcher J, Poyner E, Reynolds G, Mather M, Moldovan C, Mamanova L, Greig F, Young MD, Meyer KB, Lisgo S, Bacardit J, Fuller A, Millar B, Innes B, Lindsay S, Stubbington MJT, Kowalczyk MS, Li B, Ashenberg O, Tabaka M, Dionne D, Tickle TL, Slyper M, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Filby A, Carey P, Villani AC, Roy A, Regev A, Chédotal A, Roberts I, Göttgens B, Behjati S, Laurenti E, Teichmann SA, Haniffa M. Decoding human fetal liver haematopoiesis. Nature 2019, 574, 365–371.
• Stewart BJ, Ferdinand JR, Young MD, Mitchell TJ, Loudon KW, Riding AM, Richoz N, Frazer GL, Staniforth JUL, Braga FAV, Botting RA, Popescu D-M, Vento-Tormo R, Stephenson E, Cagan A, Farndon SJ, Polanski K, Efremova M, Green K, Velasco-Herrera MDC, Guzzo C, Collord G, Mamanova L, Aho T, Armitage JN, Riddick ACP, Mushtaq I, Farrell S, Rampling D, Nicholson J, Filby A, Burge J, Lisgo S, Lindsay S, Bajenoff M, Warren AY, Stewart GD, Sebire N, Coleman N, Haniffa M, Teichmann SA, Behjati S, Clatworthy MR. Spatiotemporal immune zonation of the human kidney. Science 2019, 365(6460), 1461-1466.
• Vento-Tormo R, Efremova M, Botting RA, Turco MY, Vento-Tormo M, Meyer KB, Park JE, Stephenson E, Polański K, Goncalves A, Gardner L, Holmqvist S, Henriksson J, Zou A, Sharkey AM, Millar B, Innes B, Wood L, Wilbrey-Clark A, Payne RP, Ivarsson MA, Lisgo S, Filby A, Rowitch DH, Bulmer JN, Wright GJ, Stubbingon MJT, Haniffa M, Moffett A, Teichmann SA. Single-cell reconstruction of the early maternal–fetal interface in humans. Nature 2018, 563, 347-353.
• Botting RA, Rana H, Bertram KM, Rhodes JW, Baharlou H, Nasr N, Cunningham AL, Harman AN. Langerhans cells and sexual transmission of HIV and HSV. Reviews in Medical Virology 2017, 27(2), 1-10.
• Harman AN, Nasr N, Feetham A, Galoyan A, Alshehri AA, Rambukwelle D, Botting RA, Hiener BM, Diefenbach E, Diefenbach RJ, Kim M, Mansell A, Cunningham AL. HIV Blocks Interferon Induction in Human Dendritic Cells and Macrophages by Dysregulation of TBK1. Journal of Virology 2015, 89(13), 6575-6584.
• Nasr N, Lai J, Botting RA, Mercier SK, Harman AN, Kim M, Turville S, Center RJ, Domagala T, Gorry PR, Olbourne N, Cunningham AL. Inhibition of two temporal phases of HIV-1 transfer from primary Langerhans cells to T cells: the role of langerin. The Journal of Immunology 2014, 193(5), 2554-2564.
• Harman AN, Bye CR, Nasr N, Sandgren KJ, Kim M, Mercier SK, Botting RA, Lewin SR, Cunningham AL, Cameron PU. Identification of lineage relationships and novel markers of blood and skin human dendritic cells. The Journal of Immunology 2013, 190(1), 66-79.
• Mercier SK, Donaghy H, Botting RA, Turville SG, Harman AN, Nasr N, Ji H, Kusebauch U, Mendoza L, Shteynberg D, Sandgren K, Simpson RJ, Moritz RL, Cunningham AL. The microvesicle component of HIV-1 inocula modulates dendritic cell infection and maturation and enhances adhesion to and activation of T lymphocytes. PLOS Pathogens 2013, 9(10), e1003700.
• Botting RA, McLachlan CS. Does cellular heterogeneity influence neuroblastoma cell line proliferation and invasiveness with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor?. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 2009, 44(12), 2436-2437.