Dr Jack Rivers-Auty
Researcher
Dr Jack Rivers-Auty spent his whole research career investigating the immune system. He started with dwarf beans (yes, bean plants have an immune system) and then took the big leap to medical immunology. Jack’s focus is what makes the immune system go wrong, causing damaging inflammation. Jack has researched inflammation in different contexts from Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, lung inflammation.
In 2026, Jack was promoted to Senior Lecturer and joined the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Over the past 5 years, his investigations have resulted in another big leap in his research career to focus on wildlife affected by microplastic exposure. Jack is an accomplished researcher, with two first-author papers in Nature Communications in 2018, and a skilled science communicator, having twice won the Three Minute Thesis Competition and the Neuroscience Young Scientist Divisional Speaker Award (2018).
He blogs regularly at www.jackauty.com.