I have been working at the University of East London since January 2000 and I currently hold a part time position as Senior Lecturer . I am module leader for the distance learning module of Human Physiology and Immunology (level two) and I teach immunology for the modules of Immunology and Applied Immunology (both level 3 undergraduate and postgraduate modules). Since 2011 I have also been leading undergraduate courses of immunology at the University of Sussex in Brighton.

I have previously worked at the National Institute for the Study and Cure of Cancer in Milan (Italy). There, I contributed to developing gene therapy for cancer using in vivo delivery of attenuated bacteria or tumour cells transduced with retroviral vectors expressing highly immunogeneic antigens and recombinant cytokines.

I have worked at the University College of London in collaboration with Dr T. Lund on the enhancement of DNA vaccine potency by DNA electropermeabilisation of skeletal muscle. In UCL I have also worked in collaboration with Professor B. Chain on the analysis of the expression of the intracellular aspartic protease Cathepsin E in human dendritic cells and with Professor A. Mitchinson on the polymorphism analysis in regulatory gene sequences.

In 2006  I worked at BSMS Medical School on a short research sabbatical with Dr Martin Llewelyn on the study of T cell activation by superantigens. I returned to BSMS in 2010, where I have enstablished a strong collaborative link with the group lead by Prof Florian Kern. My current research focuses on the role of CMV infection and regulatory T cells in the process of immune system ageing.

• I teach Immunology at all levels from undergraduate to Master.
• I am responsible for the supervision and assessment of BSc of Level 3 undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.
• As Module Leader, I am responsible for the delivery, assessment and development of the module, including the organisation and assessment of coursework (essays, laboratory practical sessions, lab-book, data analysis and seminars).

My primary research interests are on host immune responses.

I have experience in the majority of the techniques employed in molecular and cellular immunology and nucleic acid research both in vivo and in vitro, including tissue culture techniques, serological assays, proliferation and functional T-cell assays, cytotoxicity assays, FACS analysis, intracellular cytokine staining, recombinant DNA techniques, cDNA cloning, engineering of cell lines expressing genes or cDNAs, sequencing, PCR, quantitative RT-PCR and real time PCR etc.

• BS3045
• BS4046
• BSM005
• BSM006
• BS2024

For the past two years I have been working in collaboration with the lab of prof Florian Kern at BSMS (Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Univeristy of Sussex) investigating the role of CMV infection and regulatory T cells in the process of immune system ageing. I have been presenting data generated from this research at national (oral presentation a the Immunology Research Symposium , Brighton, UK , Nov 2012) and international (two poster presentations to the  FOCIS meeting, Vancouver, Canada, June 2012) conferences.

• 1. A novel inducible regulatory type T cell subset links CMV infection to higher blood pressure N. Terrazzini, M.Bajwa, S.Vita, D.Thomas, H.Smith, and F.Kern Submitted to Nature Medicine, February 2013 

  2. Murine CMV T cell inflation models underestimate human response complexity F. Kern, A. Sylwester, K. Nambiar, N. Terrazzini, S. Vita, M. Bajwa, H. Smith, E.Cheek, D.Thomas, and L. Picke Submitted to J Clin Invest February 2013

  3. The T cell receptor Vβ signature of bacterial superantigens spreads with stimulus strength. M. Llewelyn, S. Sriskandan, N. Terrazzini, Jonathan Cohen, D. M. Altmann Int Immunol. 2006 Oct;18(10):1433-41.

   4. The  hCGbeta-Arginine to Glutamic Acid68 substitution fixes the conformation of the C-terminal peptide. N. Terrazzini, M.Charrel, J. McBright, P.Martensen, J. Justesen, P. Berger, A.Lapthorn, C.Kelly I.M. Roitt, P.J. Delves, T. Lund  Mol Endocrinol. 2005 Jul;19(7):1803-11

   5. The expression and function of cathepsin E in dendritic cells. B. Chain, P. Free, P. Medd, C.Swetman, A.B.Tabor, N. Terrazzini J Immunol. 2005 Feb 15;174(4):1791-800.

   6. Improved DNA-based hCG vaccine. N. Terrazzini, S. Hannesdottir, I.M.Roitt, P.J.Delves,T.Lund Vaccine 22 (2004) 2146-2153

   7. Gene Birth, death, modification, poaching, crippling, culling and dimorphism: the challenge for informatics Cowell L.G., N Mitchison A., Muller B., Smith L.G., TerrazziniN.M. Proc. Indian. Natl. Acad.Sci.  (PINSA B68 2002)

  8. The immunological synapse. R.J. Creusot, N.A. Mitchison, N.M. Terrazzini Mol Immunol. 2002 May; 38(12-13):997-1002. 

  9. In vivo correction of genetic defects of monocyte/macrophages using attenuated Salmonella as oral vectors for targeted gene delivery. P. Paglia, N. Terrazzini, K. Schulze, C.A. Guzman, M.P.Colombo Gene Ther. 2000 March; 7:1725-1730.

   10. Interferon gamma-independent rejection of interleukin 12-transduced carcinoma cells requires CD4+ T cells and Granulocyte/Macrophage colony-stimulating factor. C. Zilocchi, A. Stoppacciaro, C. Chiodoni, M. Parenza, N.Terrazzini, M.P. Colombo J. Exp. Med. 1998 Jul 6; 188 (1):133-43

  11. Anti-tumour immunity induced by murine melanoma cells transduced with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene encoding the 38-kDa antigen. L. Sfondrini, D. Morelli, S. Menard, J. Maier, M.Singh, C. Melani, N.Terrazzini, M. Colombo, M.Colnaghi, A. Balsari Gene Ther. 1998 Feb; 5 (2):247-52

• Professional Society membership:

  - Bristish Society of Immunology (BSI)

  - Federation of Clinical Immunology Society (FOCIS)

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