Leading Infection, Inflammation and Repair researchers
Professor Amrita Ahluwalia
Professor Amrita Ahluwalia's work focuses on mechanisms of vascular homeostasis in inflammation and particularly the role of the endothelium. Recent research areas include studies investigating the role of endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factor (EDHF) in cardiovascular protection and the influence of sex on its activity, investigating the role of C-type natriuretic peptide as an EDHF, dissection of the mechanisms involved in vascular inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in sepsis, Investigation of the role of TRPV1 in vascular reactivity and mechanisms involved in nitrate and nitrite-induced bioactivity. Professor Ahluwalia’s work on the ability of beetroot juice to lower blood pressure attracted international attention.
Dr Francesco Dell'Accio
Dr Francesco Dell'Accio's research focus is cartilage biology and the biological repair/regeneration of adult articular cartilage. The findings that progenitor cells persist within adult synovial joints and in adult articular cartilage (Dell'Accio et al. Experimental Cell Research. 2003) and that the injured adult human articular cartilage deploys an early signalling response including modulation of the WNT and BMP signalling pathways (Dell'Accio et al. Arthritis Research and Therapy 2006) suggests that repair mechanisms persist in the adult joints. His current research is therefore focussed on the unravelling of the molecular signalling triggered by injury to the articular cartilage and playing a role in the repair mechanisms.
Professor Bart Vanhaesebroeck
Professor Bart Vanhaesebroeck is a world expert on the biology of PI3Kinases. The main interests of his group include signal transduction in cell migration, proliferation, survival, intracellular vesicular transport, in the context of cancer, inflammation and immunology, angiogenesis, metabolism and stem cell biology. Collaborative efforts with industry are under way in the preclinical development of isoform-selective small molecule inhibitors for PI3K to translate this preclinical work to early phase clinical trials.
Dr Toby Lawrence
Dr Toby Lawrence trained with Michael Karin in San Diego, where he used molecular genetics to study the role of cell signalling pathways in the regulation of inflammation and immunity. These studies focussed on the role of IkappaB kinase (IKK) in the biology of inflammation, using tissue specific gene targeting to establish the specific role of IKK in the inflammatory response. The major research focus of the group is to understand the fundamental mechanisms by which inflammation promotes cancer, with particular reference to the role of stromal and inflammatory cells in carcinogenesis.