Dr Kerry Hilligan
Team Leader - Ronchese Laboratory
BBmedSc (VUW) MBmedSc (Hons) (VUW) PhD (Otago)
Dr Kerry Hilligan is a Team Leader and cellular immunologist with an interest in immunophysiology and respiratory disease. The Hilligan Team’s current research is focused on immunological imprinting of the pulmonary microenvironment and its role in determining host resistance to infectious disease and allergy.
Kerry completed her Master of Biomedical Science and Ph.D. at the Malaghan Institute under the supervision of Professor Franca Ronchese. Her postgraduate research centred around dendritic cell instruction of CD4+ T cell responses at barrier tissue sites. She went on to do her postdoctoral training with Dr Alan Sher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States working on innate host resistance to tuberculosis and Covid-19. Kerry returned to Aotearoa as a Rutherford Fellow in 2022 and established her research team at the Malaghan Institute in 2024.
Related news
Research sheds lights on how prior infection or inflammation may protect against infectious diseases
7 January 2025
Mapping the lung's fight – how the entire organ responds to infection
18 April 2024
Scientists identify interferon-gamma as potential SARS-CoV-2 antiviral
13 December 2023
New research suggests hookworms could offer protection from severe Covid symptoms
14 August 2023
Allergic disease research update for Allergy NZ - Dr Kerry Hilligan
30 March 2023
Dr Kerry Hilligan awarded HRC Emerging Researcher First Grant
31 May 2022
Publications
2024
Baker PJ, Bohrer AC, Castro E, Amaral EP, Snow-Smith M, Torres-Juárez F, Gould ST, Queiroz ATL, Fukutani ER, Jordan CM, Khillan JS, Cho K, Barber DL, Andrade BB, Johnson RF, Hilligan KL, Mayer-Barber KD (2024). The inflammatory microenvironment of the lung at the time of infection governs innate control of SARS-CoV-2 replication. Sci Immunol. 9(102):eadp7951.
Noble SL, Vacca F, Hilligan KL, Mules TC, Le Gros G, Inns S (2024). Helminth infection induces a distinct subset of CD101hi lung tissue-infiltrating eosinophils that are differentially regulated by type 2 cytokines. Immunol Cell Biol. 102(8):734-746.
Baker PJ, Bohrer AC, Castro E, Amaral EP, Snow-Smith M, Torres-Juárez F, Gould ST, Queiroz ATL, Fukutani ER, Jordan CM, Khillan JS, Cho K, Barber DL, Andrade BB, Johnson RF, Hilligan KL, Mayer-Barber KD (2024). The inflammatory microenvironment of the lung at the time of infection governs innate control of SARS-CoV-2 replication. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024.03.27.586885
2023
Hilligan KL, Namasivayam S, Clancy CS, Baker PJ, Old SI, Peluf V, Amaral EP, Oland SD, O'Mard D, Laux J, Cohen M, Garza NL, Lafont BAP, Johnson RF, Feng CG, Jankovic D, Lamiable O, Mayer-Barber KD, Sher A (2023). Bacterial-induced or passively administered interferon gamma conditions the lung for early control of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Commun. 14(1):8229
Hilligan KL, Namasivayam S and Sher A (2023) BCG mediated protection of the lung against experimental SARS-CoV-2 infection. Front. Immunol. 14:1232764
Oyesola OO, Hilligan KL, Namasivayam S, Howard N, Clancy CS, Zhao M, Oland SD, Kiwanuka KN, Garza NL, Lafont BAP, Johnson RF, Mayer-Barber KD, Sher A, Loke P (2023). Exposure to lung-migrating helminth protects against murine SARS-CoV-2 infection through macrophage-dependent T cell activation. Sci Immunol. 8(86):eadf816
Montgomerie I, Bird TW, Palmer OR, Mason NC, Pankhurst TE, Lawley B, Hernández LC, Harfoot R, Authier-Hall A, Anderson DE, Hilligan KL, Buick KH, Mbenza NM, Mittelstädt G, Maxwell S, Sinha S, Kuang J, Subbarao K, Parker EJ, Sher A, Hermans IF, Ussher JE, Quiñones-Mateu ME, Comoletti D, Connor LM; On behalf theVAANZ Group (2023). Incorporation of SARS-CoV-2 spike NTD to RBD Protein Vaccine Improves Immunity Against Viral Variants. iScience. 26(4):106256
2022
Lage SL, Amaral EP, Hilligan KL, Laidlaw E, Rupert A, Namasivayan S, Rocco J, Galindo F, Kellogg A, Kumar P, Poon R, Wortmann GW, Shannon JP, Hickman HD, Lisco A, Manion M, Sher A, Sereti I (2022). Persistent Oxidative Stress and Inflammasome Activation in CD14highCD16- Monocytes From COVID-19 Patients. Front Immunol. 12:799558
2021
Hilligan KL, Namasivayam S, Clancy CS, O'Mard D, Oland SD, Robertson SJ, Baker PJ, Castro E, Garza NL, Lafont BAP, Johnson R, Ronchese F, Mayer-Barber KD, Best SM, Sher A (2022). Intravenous administration of BCG protects mice against lethal SARS-CoV-2 challenge. J Exp Med. 219(2):e20211862.
Mayer JU, Hilligan KL, Chandler JS, Eccles DA, Old SI, Domingues RG, Yang J, Webb GR, Munoz-Erazo L, Hyde EJ, Wakelin KA, Tang SC, Chappell SC, von Daake S, Brombacher F, Mackay CR, Sher A, Tussiwand R, Connor LM, Gallego-Ortega D, Jankovic D, Le Gros G, Hepworth MR, Lamiable O, Ronchese F (2021). Homeostatic IL-13 in healthy skin directs dendritic cell differentiation to promote TH2 and inhibit TH17 cell polarization. Nat Immunol. 2021 Nov 18
2020
Hilligan, K.L., Tang, SC., Hyde, E.J. et al. Dermal IRF4+ dendritic cells and monocytes license CD4+ T helper cells to distinct cytokine profiles. Nat Commun 11, 5637 (2020).
Hilligan KL, Ronchese F (2020). Antigen presentation by dendritic cells and their instruction of CD4+ T helper cell responses. Cell Mol Immunol. 17(6):587-599
Ronchese F, Hilligan KL, Mayer JU (2020). Dendritic Cells and the Skin Environment. Curr Opin Immunol. 64:56-62.
2019
R Blecher-Gonen, P Bost, KL Hilligan, E David, T Meir-Salame, B Cohen-Toth, E Roussel, JU Mayer, LM Connor, S Itzkovitz, B Schikowski, F Ronchese, I Amit, (2019). Single-Cell Analysis of Diverse Pathogen Responses Defines a Molecular Roadmap for Generating Antigen-Specific Immunity. Cell Syst. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2019.01.001.
2017
LM Connor, S-C Tang, E Cognard, S Ochiai, KL Hilligan, SI Old, C Pellefigues, RF White, D Patel, AAT Smith, DA Eccles, O Lamiable, MJ McConnell and F Ronchese, (2017). Th2 responses are primed by skin dendritic cells with distinct transcriptional profiles. J Exp Med. doi: 10.1084/jem.20160470
2016
KL Hilligan, LM Connor, AJ Schmidt and F Ronchese, (2016). Activation-Induced TIM-4 Expression Identifies Differential Responsiveness of Intestinal CD103+ CD11b+ Dendritic Cells to a Mucosal Adjuvant. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0158775. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158775.