Papers, awards and outreach from the lab
George featured in a Royal Free Charity campaign shown on a digital screen in Leicester Square, highlighting how charitable funding supports our lupus research in the UCL Division of Medicine. The screen space was donated by Ocean Outdoor UK.
Heather Cross won a FOCIS travel award and was one of two UCL nominees selected for the FOCIS Advanced Immunology workshop in Colorado. She also arranged and carried out research visits to our collaborators at the University of Colorado to plan work on joint patient cohorts.
Heather gave a flash talk at the Sex Differences in Biology: Emerging Data and Insights symposium, presenting our work on sex differences in inflammation and metabolism relevant to autoimmune disease.
Our systems immunology study, with joint first authors Heather Cross and Junjie Peng, defines biologically distinct type I interferon endotypes in childhood-onset SLE, links them to long-term clinical trajectories and identifies LAMP3 as a robust, scalable biomarker. Published open access in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, where it was also highlighted in the Editor's “Greetings” feature for the June 2026 issue.
Read the paper
Heather's poster was shortlisted for a poster prize at the British Society for Immunology Congress in Liverpool, supported by a BSI travel grant. She also gave a selected talk at the EFIS Sex Differences in Immunity congress in Paris.
Our Nature Reviews Rheumatology review covers ten years of advances in cSLE pathogenesis, from genetics and epigenetics to immune mechanisms, and what they mean for diagnosis and targeted therapy. Written with Coziana Ciurtin, David Isenberg, Alexandre Belot, Lori Tucker and Andrea Knight.
Read the review
George joined hosts Brenda Raud and Jason Goldsmith to talk about lupus, sex differences in autoimmunity and what our research is finding.
Listen to episode 119George represented the British Society for Immunology at the Royal Society of Biology's Parliamentary Links Day, which brings scientists and MPs together to discuss science policy.
Read about the day
Heather gave a selected abstract talk at the BSI London Immunology Group Diversity in Immunology meeting, presenting her work on sex differences in the immune response in lupus.
Following nomination by the British Society for Immunology, George was named an IUIS 2025 Rising Star and presented “The interferon nexus: sex differences, autoimmunity, and cardiovascular disease” at the IUIS congress in Vienna.
Meet the Rising Stars
George was applicant lead, with Professor Arne Akbar, on a UKRI Capital Equipment Fund award (CEF8) to buy a Leica Cell DIVE multiplex imaging system. The award has grown into UCL's multiplex imaging facility, and George chairs its multiplex histology committee.
George presented “Unexplored type I interferon signalling heterogeneity in childhood-onset SLE reveals novel considerations for personalised therapy” in a Clinical Abstract Session at the EULAR 2025 Congress in Barcelona.
Heather presented at EULAR in Barcelona as a selected abstract talk, supported by an EULAR bursary. Her presentation was chosen for the Translational Highlights session. She also spoke at the PReS young investigator meeting in Helsinki.
George won the Division of Medicine Early Career Research Award, chosen from ten nominations by the heads and deputies of all the Division's research departments.
About the awards
George received the British Society for Immunology's Early Career Research Excellence Award, which recognises an outstanding contribution to immunology research, with letters of commendation from the UCL President and Provost and the Chair of UCL Council.
About the awardGeorge won the PReS award for best oral presentation in basic and translational science and gave the accompanying lecture in the congress opening ceremony. The prize bursary funded a place on the Eureka International Summer Course on Translational Medicine.
PReS hall of fame
George received the British Society for Rheumatology's Garrod Award, given to an early career scientist for distinguished contribution to rheumatology, and gave the accompanying lecture in the congress opening ceremony.
About the awardGeorge won a EULAR Abstract Award in the basic science category and presented in a plenary session at the congress.
EULAR abstract awards
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