Once every
year the scientists from the Centre for Biomedical Research come together to
show-case their current research data to scientists within the university,
collaborators and invited external guests. It was a great honour to have our research day opened by a
presentation given by Prof. Siamon Gordon, Emeritus Professor at Oxford
University who is a world-leader in the biology of macrophages. Siamon eloquently set the scene for these
innate immune cells and the role they play in immune defence; the function of
which is clearly defined by subset and local tissue/cellular environment.
This talk
was followed by a series of macrophage-focussed talks from our resident
researchers. Dr Andy Foey (Lecturer
in Immunology) had the un-enviable task in following Siamon and presented how
subsets of these cells make differential activation/suppression decisions in
response to the oral pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, a keystone
pathogen in Chronic Periodontitis.
Prof Simon Jackson introduced his latest work on how macrophage
functions are controlled through the expression and activity of an enzyme that
controls cell membrane fluidity and “rafting” of receptor signalling molecules
that respond to bacterial pathogens.
The aim of this work being to create a better mechanistic understanding
that may lead to a molecular or cellular-based therapeutic regimen in the
treatment of sepsis. Dr Gyorgy
Fejer changed focus to the lungs with MPI, a self-renewing tissue-resident alveolar
macrophage cell line which can be used as an in vitro model for asthma
and other lung diseases. This
macrophage focus was further reinforced by Prof David Parkinson who described
the influx of reparative macrophages upon injury to peripheral nerves and
schwann cells.
Changing
track somewhat, Dr Matt Upton highlighted the grave issue of antibiotic resistance
and his group’s efforts in the search for novel exogenous antimicrobial
peptides as a viable alternative to current antibiotics prescribed by the
doctor. Dr Vehid Salih introduced
the field of tissue engineering in dentistry; indicating the need for more
appropriate 3D modelling in the characterisation of oral mucosal responses. The growing dental research interests
were further represented by the final talk of the day by Dr Sveta Zaric who presented
data on the differences in bacterial LPS structure and how these different
structures impact on the immune system’s ability to recognise and respond to
oral pathogens.
Last but
not least......our research students: in addition to the talks, this research
meeting included an opportunity for PhD students and Post-doctoral scientists
to present their work in a poster symposium. These included presentations from
all the research groups within the Centre for Biomedical Research and some of
our collaborators outside the centre. The final recognition was given to the
best scientific poster prize, presented to Kelly Sillence, one of our final
year PhD students who presented her research data focussing on droplet digital
PCR technology and its application for non-invasive prenatal testing of sex and
blood genetic typing.
In
conclusion, what was nicely demonstrated by this research day is the way that
many of our research strands overlap and are converging to develop fruitful
collaborations and a truly-interlinking research nucleus that will help the
University of Plymouth punch above its weight with respect to Biomedical
Research in the future.
