Patrick Waters is the Scientific Director of the Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Diagnostic Laboratory. He received a BSc in Biochemistry from University College Cork, Ireland, and a PhD from the University of East London, UK. He pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford with Prof Nick Willcox developing MHC Class II tetramers to identify specific CD4+ T cells in autoimmune myasthenia gravis and created fragments of surfactant proteins A, D, and C1q as therapeutics in allergic asthma and invasive pulmonary aspergillosis with Dr Uday Kishore.
Dr Waters has been involved in the discovery of four antibody targets in autoimmune neurologic disease: Glycine Receptor, LGI1, CASPR2, and the g2 subunit of the GABA-A receptor. Identification of antibodies to these targets supports the diagnosis and prognosis of people with different CNS autoimmune diseases. He is interested in the evaluation of diagnostic tests and in making accurate diagnostics available globally. He is part of a team currently working on establishing antibody testing in Sri Lanka, Zambia and Iran.
He receives royalties for antibody assays in CNS autoimmunity. He is an author of more than 200 publications and has been on the Clarivate list for the last 8 years.
