Dr Isabelle Montgomerie

Isabelle Montgomerie completed her DPhil at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, where she studied how antibodies evolve to keep pace with rapidly changing pathogens. She went on to work at the University of Chicago, examining naturally occurring antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now a postdoctoral fellow in the Connor Laboratory at the Malaghan Institute, Isabelle’s research is focused on next-generation vaccines. She investigates how mucosal and mRNA vaccines can be designed to trigger protective antibodies - ones that target difficult to access parts of a virus, and are delivered to the places they are most needed, such as the airways or breast milk.

Research interests

“My work is about helping the immune system do the hard jobs—making antibodies that are usually rare or tricky to generate. Sometimes that means coaxing the body to target overlooked parts of a virus; other times it’s about directing those antibodies to the front lines, like the respiratory tract or the breast  milk. Getting the right kind of antibody to the right place is what makes the difference between partial protection and real, lasting immunity.”