ROBINSON LABMeet the team
Dr George Robinson
Principal Research Fellow and Group Leader
George leads the lab in the Department of Ageing, Rheumatology and Regenerative Medicine, UCL Division of Medicine, supported by an Arthritis UK Career Development Fellowship. He trained in biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, completed his PhD in immunology at UCL in 2018, and spent a research placement at NYU in 2024.
His work on childhood lupus, interferon biology, cardiovascular risk and sex differences in autoimmunity has been recognised with the IUIS Rising Star Award (2025), the UCL Division of Medicine Early Career Research Award (2024), the BSI Early Career Research Excellence Award (2023), the BSR Garrod Award (2022), the PReS Best Oral Presentation in Basic and Translational Science (2022) and a EULAR Abstract Award (2021). He sits on the steering committee of the REINVENT FOCIS Centre of Excellence, the PReS Lupus Working Party and the UK CARDIO-IMID biomarkers management group, chairs UCL's multiplex histology committee, and is a Review Editor for Frontiers in Lupus and Frontiers in Medicine. He is also the author and illustrator of the ImmuNinjas children's book series.
The lab
Heather Cross
PhD student, UCL-Birkbeck MRC DTP
Co-supervised with Prof Coziana Ciurtin. Studies sex differences in inflammatory responses and metabolism, in the context of susceptibility to autoimmunity, using spectral flow cytometry, transcriptomics and other omics approaches. BSc (first class) from Queen's University Belfast, with a placement year at Alexion, and MSc in Immunology from KCL.
- Mar 2026 FOCIS travel award and selected for the FOCIS Advanced Immunology workshop in Colorado (one of two UCL nominees); visited collaborators at the University of Colorado
- Jan 2026 Joint first author, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (interferon endotypes in childhood lupus)
- Feb 2026 Flash talk at the Sex Differences in Biology symposium
- Dec 2025 Poster shortlisted for a prize at the BSI Congress; talk at EFIS, Paris
- 2025 Talks at EULAR (Barcelona, selected for the Translational Highlights session) and PReS (Helsinki); BSI London Immunology Group Diversity in Immunology meeting. Awards: EULAR abstract bursary, BSI travel grant, MRC DTP advanced training award
- Nov 2024 Late-breaking poster at ESPE, Liverpool
- Oct 2024 Honorary NHS contract at UCLH, attending paediatric rheumatology clinics to consent patients into our cohort
Stacey Haruman
MSc Genomic Medicine (Imperial), 2025-26
Completed her MSc research project with us in summer 2026, analysing transcriptomic data from specific immune cell lineages in juvenile SLE, with proteomic validation.
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PhD, postdoc and student projects
We welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students, postdocs and BSc or MSc project students. Get in touch.
Lab timeline
Everyone who has trained with us