William Figgett

Will completed his undergraduate studies in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Sydney University, followed by a PhD in Immunology from the University of New South Wales. Will received a scholarship to obtain a graduate certificate in Research Commercialisation concurrently with his PhD. His PhD research elucidated the mechanism of innate activation-induced B cell death, which was published in Immunity, and identified important therapeutic targets in autoimmunity. These findings have initiated the development of novel therapeutics for treating B-cell malignancies, for which Will received a Research Translation Award and funding from the Victorian Cancer Agency and the SPARK program. Will has expertise in using mouse models of autoimmunity to evaluate experimental therapies, and applies integrated transcriptomics, microbial metagenomics, and metabolomics approaches to investigate the complex interactions between the gut microbiome, immunoregulatory metabolites, and the immune system in autoimmune disease settings.