Dr Jennifer Heaney PhD

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 Service
Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT

Dr Jennifer Heaney is a Senior Research Fellow within the Clinical Immunology Service in the Institute 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. University of Birmingham, 2012
MSc. Bangor University, 2008
BSc. Bangor University, 2007

Biography

Jennifer completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham, 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.

Google Scholar Profile

ResearchGate Profile

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, 'Effects of aerobic and resistance exercise for 9 months on serum free light chains in type 2 diabetes', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 15, 1328470. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2024.1328470

Smith, P, Chicca, I, Heaney, J, Muchová, M, Khanim, F, Shields, A, Drayson, M, Chapple, I & Hirschfeld, J 2024, 'Paracetamol suppresses neutrophilic oxygen radicals through competitive inhibition and scavenging', Chemico-Biological Interactions, vol. 404, 111283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2024.111283

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, 'The effects of short-term, progressive exercise training on disease activity in smouldering multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a single-arm pilot study', BMC Cancer, vol. 24, no. 1, 174. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-024-11817-6

PITCH Consortium, Jenner, MW, Owen, RG, Pratt, D, Cook, G, Richter, A, Drayson, M & Kaiser, MF 2023, 'Immune responses to COVID-19 booster vaccinations in intensively anti-CD38 antibody treated patients with ultra-high-risk multiple myeloma: results from the Myeloma UK (MUK) nine OPTIMUM trial', British Journal of Haematology, vol. 201, no. 5, pp. 845-850. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.18714

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, 'Saliva antiviral antibody levels are detectable but correlate poorly with serum antibody levels following SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or vaccination', Journal of Infection, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 328-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2023.07.018

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, 'Impact of Etiological Cytogenetic Abnormalities on the Depth of Immunoparesis and Survival in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma', Clinical Lymphoma Myeloma and Leukemia, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. e279-e284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clml.2021.10.008

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, 'Investigating the utility of saliva immunoglobulins for the detection of myeloma and using myeloma proteins to clarify partition between oral and systemic immunity', European journal of haematology, vol. 108, no. 6, pp. 493-502. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejh.13758

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’Shea, MK, Willcox, B, Drayson, M, Crispin, M, Cunningham, A & Richter, A 2021, 'Development of a high-sensitivity ELISA detecting IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein in serum and saliva', Immunology, vol. 164, no. 1, pp. 135-147. https://doi.org/10.1111/imm.13349

Chicca, I, Heaney, J, Iqbal, G, Dunn, J, Bowcock, S, Pratt, G, Yong, K, Planche, T, Richter, A & Drayson, M 2020, 'Anti-bacterial Antibodies in Multiple Myeloma Patients at Disease Presentation, in Response to Therapy and in Remission: Implications for Patient Management', Blood Cancer Journal, vol. 10, no. 11, 114. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-020-00370-7

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, 'Detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein in both serum and saliva enhances detection of infection', medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.16.20133025

Heaney, J, Ackermann, F, Paunet-Bobo, M, Mehlal, S, Jolly, E, Hachem, J, Védrenne, A & Vasse, M 2020, 'Evaluation of two serum free light chain quantitation methods, Freelite and Seralite, in the clinical laboratory with a view to switching immunoassay', Clinica Chimica Acta.

Rapson, A, Collman, E, Faustini, S, Yonel, Z, Chapple, I, Drayson, M, Richter, A, Campbell, JP & Heaney, J 2020, 'Free light chains as an emerging biomarker in saliva: biological variability and comparisons with salivary IgA and steroid hormones', Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity, vol. 83, pp. 78-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.09.018

Chapter

Heaney, J 2020, ACTH. in MD Gellman (ed.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer International Publishing Cham, Cham, pp. 20-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_435

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, 'Plasma cell disorders supress mucosal anti-bacterial immunity: another dimension of immunoparesis in plasma cell neoplasms', Leukemia. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-024-02398-1

Heaney, J, Richter, A, Bowcock, S, Pratt, G, Child, A, Jackson, G, Morgan, G, Truesson, I & Drayson, M 2020, 'Excluding myeloma diagnosis using revised thresholds for serum free light chain ratios and M-protein levels', Haematologica, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. e169-e171. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2019.224360

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