Professor Rebecca A Drummond

Rebecca Drummond

Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Professor of Fungal Immunology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3006
Email
r.drummond@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@theRAD_lab
View my research portal
Address
Department of Immunology & Immunotherapy
College of Medicine and Health
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Rebecca Drummond is a fungal immunologist researching mechanisms of immunity that protect us from fungal pathogens, such as Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans.

Her lab is particularly interested in how organ-specific immune responses develop by studying the behaviour of tissue-resident myeloid cells during infection and the microbial response to the environment within host tissues.

Qualifications

  • PG Certificate in Higher Education (2024)
  • PhD Immunobiology, University of Aberdeen (2014)
  • BSc (Hons) Immunology, University of Edinburgh (2010)

Biography

Rebecca completed her BSc in Immunology with Honours at the University of Edinburgh in 2010. She then moved to the University of Aberdeen and joined the Aberdeen Fungal Group, where she earned her PhD in 2014. Rebecca's doctoral research focused on understanding mechanisms of adaptive antifungal immunity and revealed a novel role for the innate receptor Dectin-1 in the gut (Drummond et al, 2016, Mucosal Immunology), as well as identifying defects in the fungal-specific T-cell response in the kidney (Drummond et al, 2014, JI).

In 2014, Rebecca moved to the USA to work at the National Institutes of Health. Here, she primarily focused on understanding the pathogenesis of human CARD9 deficiency, a primary immunodeficiency disease that predisposes to fungal infection of the brain (Drummond et al, 2015, PLoS Pathogens; Drummond et al, 2019, Nature Immunology).

In 2018, Rebecca was awarded a Birmingham Fellow position to set up her own research group at the University of Birmingham. She was subsequently awarded a Career Development Award from the MRC and a Springboard Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences to establish her research. In 2024, Rebecca become a Lister Institute Fellow. She is currently funded by the MRC, Wellcome Trust and Lister Institute.

In addition to her research, Rebecca is actively involved with public engagement with science and is a regular contributor to The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/profiles/rebecca-a-drummond-1344962) and has been quoted in multiple newspapers and blogs on topics spanning fungal infections, gut microbes and antimicrobial resistance. She is a listed expert with the Science Media Centre and has completed media training.

Postgraduate supervision

Students interested in working with Professor Drummond should contact her directly by emailing r.drummond@bham.ac.uk

Research

Diseases that are a current focus in the group are:

  • Cryptococcal meningitis
  • Invasive candidiasis
We are most interested in organs that become infected in these diseases (brain, kidney, gut, lungs) and the immune responses occurring there, especially that of myeloid cells. Another major interest in the group is how fungi behave and respond to their environment within different organs, and how this shapes the subsequent immune response.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Stavrou, V, Ali, M, Gudgeon, N, Bishop, EL, Fulton-Ward, T, Turley, B, Heising, S, Mohamed, SH, Hain, S, George, L, Deng, M, McCowan, J, Sheriff, L, Davies, SP, Marzullo, B, Tennant, DA, Doig, CL, Bending, DA, Roberts, EW, Lavery, GG, Drummond, RA & Dimeloe, S 2026, 'Cytoplasmic NAD/H synthesis via NRK1 regulates inflammatory capacity and promotes survival of CD4+ T cells.', Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68863-w

Fu, MS, George, L, Harris-Bosancic, D, Hussain, T, Clipston, E, Chan, PME, Sheriff, L, Lecky, D, Kawakami, K & Drummond, RA 2026, 'Organ-specific immune responses are strain-dependent in a mouse model of Cryptococcus neoformans brain infection', Microbiology spectrum, vol. 14, no. 3, e02517-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02517-25

Bojang, E, Sheriff, L, Morris, E, Rouvray, S, Fu, MS, Wellings, C, Abdissa, K, Stavrou, V, Clark, C, Southam, AD, Dunn, WB, Bending, D, Hombrebueno, JR, Jacobsen, I, Dimeloe, S, Hall, RA & Drummond, RA 2026, 'Vancomycin disrupts mitochondrial morphology and function and impairs macrophage fungal killing', mBio, vol. 17, no. 6, e0058026. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00580-26

Hain, S, Fu, MS, Wigg, L, George, L, Lecky, D, Whitehead, AJ, Clipston, E, Sato, K, Ono, M, Wuthrich, M, Klein, B, Kawakami, K, Rayes, J, Bending, D & Drummond, RA 2025, 'Brain-infiltrating CD4 T cells drive inflammatory microglia proliferation during cryptococcal meningitis in mice', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 8995. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64034-5

Ortiz, SC, Fortune-Grant, R, Thom, AJ, Davies, J, May, RC, Drummond, RA & Bertuzzi, M 2025, 'Cryptococcus displays spore-specific uptake by alveolar epithelial cells.', mBio, vol. 16, no. 11, e01831-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01831-25

Lecky, D, Sheriff, L, Rouvray, S, George, LS, Copland, A, Drummond, R, Wraith, D & Bending, D 2025, 'Interferon-γ and IL-27 positively regulate type 1 regulatory T-cell development during adaptive tolerance', iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112308

Mohamed, SH, Vanhoffelen, E, Shun Fu, M, Hei Lau, P, Hain, S, Seldeslachts, L, Cosway, E, Anderson, G, McCulloch, L, Vande Velde, G & Drummond, RA 2024, 'CSF1R inhibition by PLX5622 reduces pulmonary fungal infection by depleting MHCIIhi interstitial lung macrophages', Mucosal immunology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mucimm.2024.08.007

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Drummond, RA 2025, Chapter One - Recent advances in antifungal immunity. in KM Murphy & FW Alt (eds), Advances in Immunology: Volume 167. Advances in Immunology, vol. 167, Academic Press (Elsevier), pp. 1-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ai.2025.04.003

Fu, MS, Kawakami, K & Drummond, RA 2023, Adoptive Transfer of Cryptococcus neoformans-Specific CD4 T-Cells to Study Anti-fungal Lymphocyte Responses In Vivo. in RA Drummond (ed.), Antifungal Immunity: Methods and Protocols. 1 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2667, Humana Press, pp. 99-112. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3199-7_7

Comment/debate

Drummond, RA 2026, 'Commensal fungus to the rescue of gut injury', Nature Microbiology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 339-340. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02246-7

Drummond, RA 2024, 'One in, one out: Commensal fungus protects against infection', The Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 221, no. 5, e20240220. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20240220

Preprint

Lecky, DAJ, Sheriff, L, Rouvray, ST, George, LS, Drummond, RA, Wraith, DC & Bending, D 2024 'Interferon-γ and IL-27 positively regulate type 1 regulatory T-cell development during adaptive tolerance' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.21.598825

Review article

Drummond, RA 2026, 'Hidden battles: dissecting host-fungal interactions and immune heterogeneity in infection outcomes', mSphere, vol. 11, no. 6, e00873-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00873-25

Morris, E, Sheriff, L & Drummond, RA 2026, 'Organ-specific phenotypes of Candida albicans: implications for immunity and pathogenesis', Current Opinion in Microbiology, vol. 93, 102817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2026.102817

Rouvray, S & Drummond, RA 2024, 'The role of lipids in regulating macrophage antifungal immunity', mBio, vol. 15, no. 10, e03057-23. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03057-23

View all publications in research portal