Staff Profile

Dr Jing Xuan Lim is a Research Associate in the Immune Regulation Laboratory led by Dr Shoba Amarnath. Her research focuses on the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in innate immune regulation within inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis (PsO) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

In July 2021, she graduated with a First Class Honours BSc in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle University, receiving the NUMed Prize in Stages 1 and 3 for achieving the highest overall marks, as well as the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for academic excellence.

In June 2025, she completed her PhD, passing with no corrections at the Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University. Her doctoral research was supported by the NC3Rs PhD Studentship and the Newcastle University Overseas Research Scholarship (NUORS), and was further recognised with the Doctoral College Thesis Prize for outstanding academic research achievement. During her PhD, she identified a novel innate lymphoid cell (ILC) subset characterised by T-bet⁺NK1.1⁻ cells that respond to anti-PD-1 therapy in cancer (PNAS, 2023). In parallel, she discovered that melanoma anti-PD-1 resistance could be driven by CD30⁺ regulatory T cells (Tregs), suggesting a new therapeutic strategy for resistant melanoma patient cohorts (Nature Immunology, 2025).

• Articles

  • Lim JX, McTaggart T, Jung SK, Smith KJ, Hulme G, Laba S, Ng YQ, Williams A, Hussain R, Coxhead J, Cosgarea I, Arden C, Nsengimana J, Lovat P, Anderson G, Sun H-W, Laurence A, Amarnath S. PD-1 receptor deficiency enhances CD30⁺ T_reg cell function in melanoma. Nature Immunology 2025, 26, 1074-1086.
  • McTaggart T, Lim JX, Smith KJ, Heaney B, McDonald D, Hulme G, Hussain R, Coxhead J, Degnan AE, Isaacs J, Pratt A, Amarnath S. Deep phenotyping of T regulatory cells in psoriatic arthritis highlights targetable mechanisms of disease. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2025, 301(1), 108059.
  • McTaggart T, Lim JX, Smith KJ, Heaney B, McDonald D, Hulme G, Hussain R, Coxhead J, Mann DA, Sayer AA, Granic A, Amarnath S. Deciphering Novel Communication Patterns in T Regulatory Cells From Very Old Adults. Aging Cell 2025, 24(7), e70044.
  • Lim JX, Lai CY, Mallett GE, McDonald D, Hulme G, Laba S, Shapanis A, Payne M, Patterson W, Alexander M, Coxhead J, Filby A, Plummer R, Lovat PE, Sciume G, Healy E, Amarnath S. Programmed cell death-1 receptor-mediated regulation of Tbet⁺NK1.1^- innate lymphoid cells within the tumor microenvironment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2023, 120(18), e2216587120.