My research group studies inflammation and signalling in blood because it is widely considered to be a key tissue for diagnostic markers of disease and indicators of treatment effect. The group studies a set of proteins that are some of the post potent signalling molecules in the body. They control inflammation, signalling to immune system cells and initiate tissue repair after injury. We are focused on red blood cells, which are the most abundant cell type in humans and the conventional view is that they are highly specialised cells that only function in the transport of gas. However, data from our research demonstrates that this perspective is now outdated. Our research has demonstrated that red blood cells play a much broader role in regulating inflammation by binding and releasing signalling proteins such as cytokines and directly affecting immune cell activity.