Dr Jennifer Heaney PhD

Jennifer Heaney

Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8458
Email
j.l.j.heaney@bham.ac.uk
Address
Clinical Immunology Services
Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
College of Medicine and Health
黑料吃瓜网
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT

Dr Jennifer Heaney is a Senior Research Fellow within the Clinical Immunology Services in the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy. Jennifer’s main theme of research is immunoassay development, focusing on applications in blood cancer and measuring immunity against disease. She develops solutions that are simple and affordable to improve access to testing and streamline testing pathways to achieve patient benefits. To develop and validate novel immunodiagnostic tests, Jennifer collaborates closely with industry, charity and clinical partners. She has received funding from Cancer Research UK, Blood Cancer UK, the MRC and NIHR.

Qualifications

  • PhD. 黑料吃瓜网, 2012
  • MSc. Bangor University, 2008
  • BSc. Bangor University, 2007

Biography

Jennifer completed her PhD at the 黑料吃瓜网, UK in 2012. She then worked in the medical communications industry for a year as a Medical Writer. Jennifer returned to Birmingham to work closely with a medical diagnostics partner developing new tests for diagnosing and monitoring multiple myeloma. This included supporting the development and validation of a rapid test for serum free light chains (Seralite®), which was sold globally for use in plasma cell disorders.

Jennifer has since established a broad programme of assay development to address unmet clinical needs. Testing applications include blood cancer, infection and immunity and autoimmune conditions. She has received funding from CRUK, Blood Cancer UK and the MRC to support in vitro diagnostic R&D.

Alongside immunoassay development, Jennifer has conducted a range of investigations in UK multiple myeloma clinical trials, in core themes of immunosuppression, infections, vaccination and interpretation of laboratory tests. She has also undertaken research in healthy and clinical populations to increase understanding of the relationship between oral and systemic immune systems.

Teaching

  • Jennifer is College Lead for Postgraduate Mentorship
  • MBChB tutor Immunity, Infection and Haematology
  • MBChB tutor Clinical Communication
  • BMedSci: Clinical Sciences. Research project supervisor for intercalating MBChB students

Postgraduate supervision

Jennifer is currently supervising five PhD students. 

Jennifer has supervised several students from MSc Immunology and Immunotherapy, MRes Cancer Sciences and MSc by Research courses (both full and part-time) and MSc Integrated Biological Sciences.

If you are interested in studying in Jennifer’s areas of interest, she welcomes applications from potential doctoral and MSc by Research students. Please contact her directly. 

Research

Jennifer focuses on translational research which seeks to innovate immunoassays for both patient and healthcare system benefits. Her main interest is developing low-cost and straightforward solutions to improve equity of testing and improve and accelerate diagnostic pathways. She works across laboratory and point of care testing platforms.

Current in vitro diagnostic projects include:

  • High sensitivity blood-based diagnosis and monitoring for non-measurable myeloma
  • Immunity screening for vaccine preventable diseases to support vaccination strategies in global health
  • Improving access to myeloma testing in low-middle income countries
  • Screening and monitoring autoimmune diseases
  • Enabling at home patient monitoring for plasma cell disorders

Alongside immunoassay R&D, measuring humoral immunity and antibody responses in myeloma and oral immunity continue to form her main research interests. She is particularly interested in relationships between oral and systemic antibodies and investigates this theme in both health and disease.

Other activities

  • Grant panels (MRC IAA Management Group and College Research Development Fund)
  • Member of STEM ethics committee
  • Reviewer for various international journals in clinical and laboratory science disciplines
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of British Society for Immunology
  • Member of British Society for Haematology

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Kim, Y, Campbell, J, Johannsen, N, Church, T, Cho, E, Heaney, J & Spielmann , G 2024, '', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 15, 1328470.

Smith, P, Chicca, I, Heaney, J, Muchov谩, M, Khanim, F, Shields, A, Drayson, M, Chapple, I & Hirschfeld, J 2024, '', Chemico-Biological Interactions, vol. 404, 111283.

Emery, A, Moore, S, Crowe, J, Murray, J, Peacock, O, Thompson, D, Betts, F, Rapps, S, Ross, L, Rothschild-Rodriguez, D, Arana Echarri, A, Davies, R, Lewis, R, Augustine, DX, Whiteway, A, Afzal, Z, Heaney, JLJ, Drayson, MT, Turner, JE & Campbell, JP 2024, '', BMC Cancer, vol. 24, no. 1, 174.

PITCH Consortium, Faustini, S, Hall, A, Brown, S, Roberts, S, Hill, H, Stamataki, Z, Jenner, MW, Owen, RG, Pratt, D, Cook, G, Richter, A, Drayson, M, Kaiser, MF & Heaney, J 2023, '', British Journal of Haematology, vol. 201, no. 5, pp. 845-850.

Faustini, SE, Cook, A, Hill, H, Al-Taei, S, Heaney, J, Efstathiou, E, Tanner, C, Townsend, N, Ahmed, Z, Dinally, M, Hoque, M, Goodall, M, Stamataki, Z, Plant, T, Chapple, I, Cunningham, AF, Drayson, MT, Shields, AM & Richter, AG 2023, '', Journal of Infection, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 328-335.

Caro, J, Cairns, D, Menzies, T, Boyle, E, Pawlyn, C, Cook, G, Kaiser, M, Walker, BA, Owen, R, Jackson, GH, Morgan, GJ, Heaney, J, Drayson, MT & Davies, FE 2022, '', Clinical Lymphoma Myeloma and Leukemia, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. e279-e284.

Heaney, J, Faustini, S, Evans, L, Rapson, A, Collman, E, Emery, A, Campbell, JP, Moore, S, Goodall, M, Afzal, Z, Chapple, I, Pratt, G & Drayson, M 2022, '', European journal of haematology, vol. 108, no. 6, pp. 493-502.

Faustini, S, Jossi, S, Perez-Toledo, M, Shields, A, Allen, JD, Watanabe, Y, Newby, ML, Cook, A, Willcox, C, Salim, M, Goodall, M, Heaney, J, Marcial Juarez, E, Morley, G, Torlinska, B, Wraith, D, Veenith, T, Harding, S, Jolles, S, Mark, PJ, Plant, T, Huissoon, A, O鈥橲hea, MK, Willcox, B, Drayson, M, Crispin, M, Cunningham, A & Richter, A 2021, '', Immunology, vol. 164, no. 1, pp. 135-147.

Chicca, I, Heaney, J, Iqbal, G, Dunn, J, Bowcock, S, Pratt, G, Yong, K, Planche, T, Richter, A & Drayson, M 2020, '', Blood Cancer Journal, vol. 10, no. 11, 114.

Faustini, SE, Jossi, SE, Perez-Toledo, M, Shields, A, Allen, JD, Watanabe, Y, Newby, ML, Cook, A, Willcox, CR, Salim, M, Goodall, M, Heaney, JL, Marcial-Juarez, E, Morley, GL, Torlinska, B, Wraith, DC, Veenith, T, Harding, S, Jolles, S, Mark, PJ, Plant, T, Huissoon, A, O'Shea, MK, Willcox, BE, Drayson, MT, Crispin, M, Cunningham, AF & Richter, AG 2020, '', medRxiv.

Heaney, J, Ackermann, F, Paunet-Bobo, M, Mehlal, S, Jolly, E, Hachem, J, V茅drenne, A & Vasse, M 2020, '', Clinica Chimica Acta.

Rapson, A, Collman, E, Faustini, S, Yonel, Z, Chapple, I, Drayson, M, Richter, A, Campbell, JP & Heaney, J 2020, '', Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity, vol. 83, pp. 78-86.

Chapter

Heaney, J 2020, . in MD Gellman (ed.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer International Publishing Cham, Cham, pp. 20-20.

Letter

Faustini, S, Chan, YLT, Evans, L, Collman, E, Rapson, A, Backhouse, C, Emery, A, Campbell, JP, Moore, S, Richter, A, Pratt, G, Drayson, M & Heaney, J 2024, '', Leukemia, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 2501-2504.

Heaney, J, Richter, A, Bowcock, S, Pratt, G, Child, A, Jackson, G, Morgan, G, Truesson, I & Drayson, M 2020, '', Haematologica, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. e169-e171.