Professor of Pharmacology, School of Life and Medical Sciences

Transcription

1 Prof. Anwar Baydoun PhD, FBPhS Professor of Pharmacology, School of Life and Medical Sciences University of Hertfordshire Prof. Anwar Baydoun is a Cardiovascular Pharmacologist and an accomplished researcher in the field of cell signalling, applying his work to understanding physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms that may generate novel targets for drug development. He is most widely known for his work on nitric oxide and cationic amino acid transporters but also researches into the mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes as well as those that regulate the process of vascular calcification in kidney and/or cardiovascular disease states. He collaborates extensively with clinicians and with pharmaceutical industries in developing in vitro models for drug screening and of disease states. Key words: nitric oxide, stem cell differentiation, vascular calcification, cell signalling, vascular smooth muscle cells, cardiovascular pathologies. Click here to access Professor Baydoun s institute webpage:

2 Dr Graeme Birdsey, Ph.D Lecturer in Vascular Sciences National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London Dr Birdsey s research interests focus on the transcriptional regulation of angiogenesis, in particular the role of ETS transcription factors in regulating endothelial cell gene expression. To understand in more detail the molecular mechanisms regulating angiogenesis, we make use of a number of techniques including: transcriptional biochemistry, microarray and ChIP-seq analysis, bioinformatics, confocal immunofluorescence microscopy, time-lapse video microscopy, in vitro and in vivo models of angiogenesis (e.g neonatal retinal angiogenesis, co-culture and Matrigel tube formation assays). Key words: transcription factors, endothelial cells, angiogenesis, neonatal retinal angiogenesis, confocal microscopy, cell migration. Click here to access Dr Birdsey s institute webpage:

3 Dr David Bishop-Bailey, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer in Comparative Biosciences Royal Veterinary College He is currently a Fellow of the American Heart Association, the British Pharmacological Society, the Higher Education Authority and The Royal Society of Biology. Dr Bishop-Bailey initially studied for a degree in Pharmacology at Kings College London. Dr Bishop-Bailey's research interests focus on 3 main areas: oxylipins in health and disease, nuclear receptors in vascular inflammation and alterantive models of disease. To answer research questions we use a wide variety of techniques including the use of human primary cells, transgenic mouse models, large animal tissue, LC/MS/MS, molecular targetiing, flow cytometry, RNA-Seq, and in silico molecular modelling. Key words: oxylipins, eicosanoids, nuclear receptors, vascular cells, monocytes, inflammatory resolution, angiogenesis, metabolism. Click here to access Dr Bishop-Bailey s institute webpage:

4 Dr Dianne Cooper, Ph.D Lecturer Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London Dr Cooper s research interests focus on understanding the function of galectins, a family of carbohydrate binding proteins, in the process of inflammation and its resolution. She has a particular interest in how they modulate leukocyte trafficking and persistence in chronic inflammatory pathologies such as rheumatoid arthritis. Her group uses several techniques to study these processes (e.g. flow chamber assays, chemotaxis assays, intra-vital microscopy). Dr Cooper has been a member of the LVBF since Key words: neutrophils, endothelial cells, trafficking, inflammation, galectins Click here to access Dr Cooper s institute webpage:

5 Prof. Albert Ferro, PhD, FRCP, FBPhS Professor of Cardiovascular Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine King's College London Professor Ferro is ex-vice-president ( ) of the British Pharmacological Society (Clinical Section). He chairs the MRCP Part 1 Board, and also the Royal College of Physicians Joint Specialty Committee on Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He served as Chair of the London Hypertension Society between 2005 and 2009, of which he remains a committee member. He is a member of a number of professional societies, as well as serving on the Editorial Boards of several medical and cardiovascular scientific journals. Since 2010, he is Reviews Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. He runs a hypertension clinic at Guy s and St Thomas. The main focus of his present research is on the role of platelet-monocyte interactions in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, and novel therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis targeting these interactions. He has published extensively on platelet function in both physiology and cardiovascular pathophysiology. Key words: Clinical pharmacology, platelets, monocytes, atherosclerosis, aspirin resistance Click here to access Professor Ferro s institute webpage:

6 Prof. Giovanni E. Mann, Ph.D. Professor of Vascular Physiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine King s College London giovanni.mann@kcl.ac.uk Prof Mann is currently Secretary General of the Society of Free Radical Research-International (SFRR- I), and previously served as Chairman of The Physiological Society, President of the Society for Free Radical Research-Europe (SFRR-E), President of the British Microcirculation Society, President of the European Microcirculation Society, a Council Member of the Physiological Society, SFRR-Europe, European Society for Microcirculation and International Liaison Committee for Microcirculation. He is Reviews Editor for Free Radical Biology & Medicine and a member of the Editorial Boards of Journal of Physiology, Microcirculation and Editorial Advisor for the Biochemical Journal. He has served as Chair of HRUK Translational Sciences Panel and Chair of the Medical Panel of The Henry Smith Charity, and is currently a member of the Basic Science Panel of Heart Research UK, Board of External Referees for the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council and College of Experts and the Medical Research Council - Physiological Systems & Clinical Sciences. His vascular biology research group at King s College London is investigating signalling cascades involved the transcriptional activation of antioxidant defence genes in endothelial and smooth muscle cells in oxidative stress. They are particularly interested in vascular dysfunction induced by oxidative stress in diseases such as atherosclerosis, gestational diabetes and stroke, and the health benefits of dietary inducers of the redox sensitive transcription factor Nrf2 involved the upregulation of endogenous antioxidant defences. Professor Mann has been a long time member and supporter of the London Vascular Biology Forum since its launch in Key words: Cardiovascular, endothelial, smooth muscle, nitric oxide, oxidative stress, Nrf2, cell culture Click here to access Professor Mann s institute webpage:

7 Dr Manasi Nandi, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer in Integrative Pharmacology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine King s College London manasi.nandi@kcl.ac.uk Dr Nandi has been a member of the LVBF since Her research focuses on cardiovascular regulation, in disorders including pulmonary hypertension and septic shock. She has used pharmacological, disease and genetically modified systems. She applies an integrative approach, to identify novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of vascular dysfunction e.g in hypertension and septic shock. She has set up the radiotelemetry suite for monitoring laboratory animals non-invasively. More recently, the focus of her research has moved towards using mathematical approaches to extract more information from physiological waveforms such as blood pressure, in order to provide an earlier diagnostic and minimise bias. Key words: Septic shock, cardiovascular, nitric oxide, animal models, radiotelemetry, mathematical models for waveform analysis. Click here to access Dr Nandi s institute webpage:

8 Dr Ines Pineda Torra, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer, Division of Medicine University College London Dr Ines Pineda-Torra has been a member of the LVBF committee since Her research interests include transcriptional regulation of lipid metabolism, inflammation, macrophage biology and in vivo models of atherosclerosis and fatty liver disease. In addition she collaborates with experts in autoimmune diseases such as Lupus to elucidate the mechanistic basis of their increased cardiovascular risk. Her group has particular interest in the downstream signalling pathway of the oxysterol receptors (Liver X receptor) and its regulation by phosphorylation in the context of cardiometabolic diseases. Lab technical expertise includes macrophage isolation, culture and marker analysis; cell signalling and phosphorylation assays, protein-protein and protein-chromatin (ChIP) interaction assays in cell/tissue extracts, gene and protein expression analyses, foam cell formation and atherosclerosis analyses, cell membrane and intracellular lipid composition assays. Key words: macrophages, oxysterols, Liver X receptors, atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, lupus, mouse models Click here to access Dr Pineda-Torra s institute webpage:

9 Prof. Christiana Ruhrberg Institute of Ophthalmology and affiliated Institute of Cardiovascular Science University College London She has been a member of the LVBF committee since Her research interests include cardiovascular development, neurovascular interactions and in vivo models of neovascular eye disease. She has particular expertise in mouse models of angiogenesis, arteriogenesis and vascular permeability and explores signalling pathways mediated by NRP1, a vascular and neuronal receptor for the vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF and class 3 semaphorin. Lab technical expertise includes angiogenesis assays, genetic mouse models and whole organ imaging of developmental processes. Professor Ruhrberg is a member of the organising committee for London Vascular Biology Forum since She is member of the British Society for Developmental Biology, Biochemical Society and the North American Vascular Biology Organisation. She is an editor for PLoS One sine 2010, a member of the Faculty of 1000 since 2015 and listed on the Expert Women in Life Sciences and AcademiaNet databases of leading female scientists since Key words: angiogenesis, vascular permeability, VEGF, semaphorin, NRP1. Click here to access Professor Ruhrberg s institute webpage:

10 Dr Beata Wojciak-Stothard Senior Lecturer in Vascular Biology Department of Medicine, Imperial College London Dr Beata Wojciak-Stothard is a non-clinical Senior Lecturer in Vascular Biology. She is a Fellow of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, a member of European Vascular Biology Organization (EVBO) and of the London Vascular Biology Forum Committee. The main focus of her research group is to understand the mechanism of endothelial dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension. The objective of this work is to develop new therapeutic strategies for treatment of this disease. Her group use data from proteomic and genomic screening of pulmonary hypertensive patient samples to identify signalling mediators linked to endothelial dysfunction. Her current research focuses on the role of Rho GTPases, chloride intercellular channels (CLIC) and shear-stress-induced micrornas in the regulation of pulmonary endothelial function. Her recent interests also include the role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in pulmonary vascular remodelling and the use of microfluidic devices (organ-on-a-chip) in studies on pulmonary vascular function in vitro. Key words: endothelial function, vascular remodelling, pulmonary hypertension, cytoskeleton, Rho GTPases, angiogenesis, barrier function, organ-on-a-chip Click here to access Dr Beata Wojciak-Stothard s institute webpage: