Inflammation, infections and immunity
High magnification image of mouse embryonic lung cultured for 48h. Epithelial (red) and vascular (green) growth highlight the complex interplay between the epithelium and surrounding tissue during airway morphogenesis.
The Bath Inflammation, Infections and Immunity group is a collaborative venture between academic groups within the University of Bath. Our primary focus is to understand the mechanisms of host defence, specifically responses to viral infections, inflammatory diseases and microbial pathogenicity.
Group expertise includes pharmacology, physiology, immunology, microbiology and medicinal chemistry. The Group promotes the interaction between basic science and clinical disciplines to study vascular biology, inflection, immunity and inflammation from the basic processes through to clinical pathology.
On going projects include understanding the cellular mechanisms that lead to the establishment and maintenance of chronic inflammatory states, receptor and ion channel expression in antigen presenting cells, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine production and drug development to target viral infections. Chronic inflammatory states include the study of respiratory (cystic fibrosis, asthma), cardiovascular (sepsis, atherosclerosis), skeletal (arthritis) and gut (inflammatory bowel disease) inflammation.
Members
- Prof Steve Ward (Lead) - Cell signalling; leukocyte & epithelial cell biology; mechanisms of inflammation; drug target validation
- Dr Albert Bolhuis – Pathogenicity of Gram positive bacteria
- Prof Mark Lindsay
- Dr Julie Letchford – Antibiotic resistance, biofilms
- Dr Amanda Mackenzie – Inflammation; innate immunity; ion channels; cell signalling; calcium; redox signalling
- Dr Giordano Pula
- Dr Sergey Smirnov – Arteries; smooth muscle biology; ion channels; hypoxia; mitochondria; vascular cell signalling
- Dr Malcolm Watson
- Dr Andrew Watts
