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Dr Jennifer Currenti

Research Fellow
Curtin Medical School

Currenti Lab

Dr Jennifer Currenti is an early career cancer immunologist whose research focuses on understanding and therapeutically harnessing T cell responses in hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC. They completed their PhD at the University of Western Australia in 2022 and now lead a research group across Curtin University and the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. Their work spans T cell receptor repertoire analysis, neoantigen discovery and the development of machine learning tools to support personalised cancer immunotherapies. Dr Currenti serves as the Western Australian Councillor for the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology and is an active member of the WA Liver Cancer Collaborative. They have secured significant competitive funding, supervise multiple research students and are dedicated to improving outcomes for people affected by liver cancer through innovative and translational immunology research.    

About

Dr Jennifer Currenti is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Sharma Lab at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and is also a research fellow at the Curtin Medical Research Institute, Curtin University. They have a background in viral immunology and completed their PhD at the University of Western Australia in 2022. Their thesis, titled Effect of Viral Adaptation and T Cell Receptor Usage on Natural and Vaccine-Induced Cellular Immunity, received a Dean’s List Honourable Mention.


Their doctoral research focused on two viruses, the Influenza virus and Human immunodeficiency virus. The work examined host and viral interactions and their implications for vaccine design. The findings provided important insights into how viral adaptation influences antiviral immune responses. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of host and viral dynamics and supports the development of more effective vaccines for highly mutable viral pathogens.


In the Sharma Lab, they investigate similarities between fetal and tumour microenvironments, with a particular focus on T cell responses in Hepatocellular carcinoma. They also examine how oncofetal reprogramming within the tumour ecosystem influences responses to Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.


Outside of their research, they enjoy hiking, painting and music.

  • Western Australianb Councillor for the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology
  • Member of the WA Liver Cancer Collaborative

EMAIL: Jennifer.Currenti@curtin.edu.au
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Curtin Staff Profile

Research Focus

Dr Jen Currenti's research focuses on understanding and enhancing immune responses against hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC, with the aim of informing more effective and personalised treatment strategies for patients with limited therapeutic options. This includes investigating the factors that influence why some individuals respond to immunotherapy while others do not, through the analysis of blood and tumour samples to examine T cell interactions with cancer cells and how these interactions evolve during treatment. A key aspect of this work is the characterisation of soluble immune regulators released during therapy and evaluating their impact on treatment efficacy and patient outcomes.

In addition, the research incorporates computational and machine learning approaches to predict significant tumour immune interactions and identify patient specific therapeutic targets. These complementary lines of investigation seek to advance the understanding of HCC immunobiology and support the development of next generation personalised immunotherapies.

 

Research Team

William Chambers

PhD Student

Publications

ABSTRACT

Developing an effective HIV-1 vaccine is a global health priority, but HIV-1 mutational escape from T cells poses a challenge. While escape from human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I)–restricted CD8+ T cells is well characterized, less is known about HLA-II–restricted T cell escape. We used computational methods to identify 149 sites across the HIV-1 clade B genome under HLA-II–associated selection. Functional assays, including activation-induced intracellular cytokine staining and enzyme-linked immunospot for interferon-γ, revealed diverse mechanisms of HIV-1 adaptation to HLA-II–associated immune pressure, ranging from loss to sustained antigen recognition. T cell receptor and RNA sequencing demonstrated variable clonotype overlap of T cell clones to recognize adapted versus non-adapted peptides, with cells targeting adapted peptides exhibiting a dysfunctional transcriptomic state. Moreover, incorporating HLA-II–associated adaptation strengthened the correlation between Gag-specific viral adaptation and poor disease outcomes. Last, we mapped viral regions prone to HLA-II–associated adaptation and found that these adaptations can increase in frequency within populations.

Alves, E., J. Currenti, K. Crawford, A. Chopra, R. Ram, L. Barnett, J. F. Read, M. Al-Kaabi, I. James, J. M. Carlson, and 10 more contributors. 2025. HIV-1 adapts to HLA class II–associated selection pressure exerted by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Science Advances 11 (7)
ABSTRACT

Influenza remains a global health threat, infecting approximately one billion people annually and causing significant mortality, particularly among older adults. While hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) antibody titers are a standard correlate of immunity against influenza, they do not reliably predict protection in high-risk populations. Using multiomic single-cell profiling, we identified a distinct subset of adaptive-like NK cells that respond to influenza antigen, predominantly in younger females. These TNFSF10+LGALS9+ NK cells exhibit features of adaptive NK cells but lack classical cytomegalovirus-driven markers observed in previous studies. Notably, their increased frequency correlates with high pre-existing HAI titers, suggesting a link between adaptive-like NK responses and humoral immunity. Together, our findings identify an NK subset influenced by age and sex that may contribute to influenza protection, expanding the known diversity of adaptive-like NK cells. These insights could inform future vaccine strategies, particularly for aging populations, by integrating NK responses into assessments of vaccine efficacy.

Alves, E., J. M. Oakes, J. D. Simmons, J. Currenti, J. D. Coudert, B. Foley, J. Eason, N. B. Halasa, H. K. Talbot, J. L. Castilho, and 3 more contributors. 2025. Adaptive-like NK cell responses to influenza correlate with humoral immunity and are influenced by age and sex.. bioRxiv

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