Brigitta Stockinger

Brigitta Stockinger, FMedSci, FRS, is a molecular immunologist in the Francis Crick Institute in London. Stockinger's lab focus on understanding how certain immune cells, called T cells, develop and function as well as investigating how diet and other environmental factors can affect the way the immune system works.

Stockinger focuses on a particular type of immune cell that helps to control immune responses to viruses, bacteria and other pathogens, called a CD4 T cell.

Stockinger's research has provided insights into a particular type of CD4 T cell, called a Th17 cell, looking at why some of these cells become inflammatory and cause damage in the body. Her lab identified a particular receptor, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which connects environmental stimuli and the immune system.

Education
Stockinger was educated at the University of Mainz, where she was awarded a PhD in Biology. She then did postdoctoral studies in London, Cambridge and at the Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg.

Career

 * 1985 - 1991 – Basel Institute for Immunology (Member)
 * 1991 - 2015 – Division of Molecular Immunology (now part of the Francis Crick Institute), MRC National Institute for Medical Research (Head)
 * 2015 - present – Principal Investigator in the Francis Crick Institute. Stockinger joined the Institute's scientific leadership team as an Associate Research Director in July 2020.

Awards and honours
Stockinger was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013. Her nomination reads:

In 2008, she was elected a member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). She is also a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.