Respiratory Medicine and the Lung Immunobiology Laboratory Group
Research Achievements
The basic and translational research activity of the group is based in the Applied Immunobiology and Transplantation Research Group, Institute of Cellular Medicine in specifically designed laboratory space for work with human lung tissue. The clinical arm of the group is based at the Freeman Hospital, in the Regional Cardiothoracic Centre where a full range of specialist respiratory services are offered to patients with acute and chronic lung diseases. This includes nationally designated centres in lung transplantation and pulmonary hypertension as well as specialist clinics in asthma, COPD, Bronchiectasis, Sleep Medicine and Lung Cancer . The department hosts a respiratory clinical trials unit with 20 years experience dedicated to Phase 2a, 2 b and 3 studies of new therapies in lung disease.
Major advances made by the group previously include:
- Identification of brain-death induced lung injury in human lung donors and the consequences of raised pulmonary Interleukin-8 to post-lung transplant graft function.
- The effect of different genomovars of Burkholderia Cepacia on outcomes after lung transplantation and the biology of the virulence and pathogenicity of the organisms.
- The cellular and molecular effects of macrolide antibiotics functioning as anti-inflammatory therapy in the lung.
- Molecular evaluation of the effects of gastroesaphageal reflux in chronic lung injury and airway remodelling
Research Activty:
Investigation of mechanisms of epithelial injury and repair in the human airway
Evaluation of cell based therapy as an anti-inflammatory therapy in the donor lung
Evaluation of ex-vivo perfusion of donor lungs to improve function prior to transplantation
Investigation of pulmonary innate immune responses and host-organism interactions in chronic lung disease and relevance to COPD exacerbation modelling
Novel ways to detect bacteria and to examine the complexitiy of bacterial presence in the lung
Improving understanding of role of Interleukin-17 driven lung inflammation in Cystic Fibrosis
Conducting an MRC funded RCT of Azithromycin in the treatment of chronic graft dysfunction after lung transplant.
Group Funding
The group currently has grants from MRC, CF Trust, EU FP6, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. There are currently three clinical fellows working with the group, two as MRC training fellows and one as a CF-Trust grant funded PhD. Additionally there are two post-doc scientists and three PhD students currently working with the group.
Staff Principle Investigators
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Professor Paul Corris
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Dr Anthony De Soyza
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Professor Andrew Fisher
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Dr Christopher Ward
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