Dr Laura Rivino

Research interests

We study anti-viral immunity in human infection and vaccination, with a focus on dengue and zika. We are interested in defining integrated correlates of protection and immunopathology for these diseases, to inform the design of protective vaccines and host-directed therapies. We have a longstanding interest in T cell responses, and we study these in the context of the broader immune response.

We collaborate with scientists at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU, Vietnam), the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Programme (MLW, Malawi), the Bristol Vaccine Centre and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU, Bristol, UK).

Main areas of research:

• Immune signatures of severe dengue. We are investigating these signatures (Gregorova et al. Nat Commun 2025), the mechanisms driving them and their suitability to serve as early predictors of severe disease.
• Genetic susceptibility for severe dengue. Using CRISPR-Cas9 gene edited cells and patient samples we are assessing the immunological impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with severe dengue (Khor et al. Nat genet 2011). Using genetic epidemiology methodologies, we are investigating the causality of these polymorphisms for severe dengue.
• Host-directed therapy in dengue. In collaboration with OUCRU we are investigating the impact of host-directed therapies on the immune response to dengue and links with disease outcomes (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05611710 and NCT04377451).
• T cell crossreactivity. We are studying the extent of T cell crossreactivity towards dengue and zika and its impact on T cell function and clinical outcomes, in patient samples from Asia and Africa (MADZIP consortium, funded by the Wellcome Trust).

Biography

Dr Rivino holds an Integrated Master’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Milan (Milan, Italy). She completed a PhD in Immunology at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Bellinzona, Switzerland) focusing on the mechanisms underpinning the generation and maintenance of human memory T cells. During her post-doctoral training in Singapore at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Duke-NUS Medical School she became interested in the role of T cells in virus infections of clinical importance. Dr Rivino was promoted to Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS (Singapore) in 2016. In 2019 she joined the University of Bristol (Bristol, UK) as Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. In April 2026 she joined the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine as Reader of Immunology.

Selected research publications

Dengue infection elicits skin tissue-resident and circulating CD8⁺ T cells associated with protection from hospitalization – Journal: Science advances – Published: 20th March 2026

Early NK-cell and T-cell dysfunction marks progression to severe dengue in patients with obesity and healthy weight – Journal: Nature Communications – Published: 1st July 2025

Prolonged T-cell activation and long COVID symptoms independently associate with severe COVID-19 at 3 months – Journal: eLife – Published: 13th June 2023

Large-Scale HLA Tetramer Tracking of T Cells during Dengue Infection Reveals Broad Acute Activation and Differentiation into Two Memory Cell Fates – Journal: Immunity – Published: 17th December 2019

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