Malaghan alumni series: Professor Ben Marsland

1. Where did you grow up?

I’m from Silverstream in Upper Hutt and attended St Patrick’s College.  

2. When and what did you work on at the Malaghan?

I started my PhD at the Malaghan in 2000 after doing a Master’s in Microbiology at Otago University in Dunedin. My thesis focused on influenza and susceptibility to asthma; specifically, investigating how this viral infection exacerbated asthma.

However, as soon as I started my research, I found the data told the opposite story; showing that infection was actually protecting against asthma, which caused a great deal of confusion and drama at the time.

We eventually figured out that the response depended on the intensity of infection and the timing of the asthmatic response. We discovered the protection against asthma was due to a population of immune cells (CD8+) which stayed in the lung after infection – what we now know as tissue-resident memory T-cells.

3. What are some memorable experiences of your time at the Malaghan?

I clearly remember sitting at the flow cytometer running my experiment and seeing a huge cytokine response by CD8+ immune cells when they were stimulated with a cytokine called IL-18, which at the time, was completely unexpected. I remember sprinting in my lab coat to Professor Graham Le Gros’ office to show him my results. That was one of the most exciting and stimulating bits of data from my PhD, and the reaction around it, which was really enthusiastic and fun, felt like we'd made a big discovery.

Of course, meeting my future wife was another memorable experience!

4. What's been your career path since the Malaghan? What achievements are you most proud of?

After completing my PhD at the Malaghan Institute, I followed my now wife, Nicola Harris, to Switzerland to be a postdoc. We spent 15 years there, initially in Zurich and then in Lausanne. I established my own lab and became a professor. We then moved to Melbourne to take my current position at Monash University. Nicola is also a Professor at Monash and we co-lead the Mucosal Immunology Research Group.

5. How has your time at the Malaghan influenced your career?

My time at the Malaghan had a major impact on me. It is an amazing place and I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to study there–it 100% put me on the career trajectory I’m on today.

The short story of my PhD starts with Graham abandoning me to spend 18 months at the National Institutes of Health in the United States. I had written  multiple emails asking to do a PhD with him, and I think partly because he knew he was going on sabbatical, he was pretty reluctant. I was persistent and finally he relented, so in some respects I can’t complain that I was left alone!

That led to Nicola – who was a postdoctoral researcher of Graham’s at the time – helping guide me scientifically on the project. We got to know each other and when she went to Switzerland to do a further postdoc, I followed, and the rest is history.

Today, I’m trying to model the sense of excitement and opportunity I experienced at the Malaghan within my own team. I’m very grateful for, and conscious of, the impact the environment at the Malaghan had upon me as a student.

6. Where are you working now and what’s the focus of your research or role?

I’m now based at Monash University where I co-lead the Mucosal Immunology Research Group and the Gastroenterology Immunology Neuroscience (GIN) Discovery Program. We have two main lines of research. Our first is mechanistic in vivo  immunology. We’re particularly interested in understanding how the gut, the nervous system and the immune system interact with each other and drive or protect against chronic diseases.

Our other interest is in ‘multi omics,’ which is an analytical approach to looking at whole ‘omes’ such as the genome and microbiome, in a wide range of different lung diseases. We are very excited to be developing AI foundation models to help us manage and gain insights from enormous datasets. I don't yet know where it's going to lead us, but it's exciting to be dipping our toes into this new technology.  

7. What's your advice to young New Zealand scientists today?

Follow the data. Always think about what the data means and don’t be drawn into having preconceived ideas that you feel you need to prove.

Beyond that, I would advise any young scientist to be open to new experiences and to embrace the opportunities and excitement that comes with making discoveries. Don’t get discouraged by challenges or roadblocks, you never know where they might take you!