Download CIR Newsletter July 2016 - The University of Edinburgh

MRC Centre for Inflammation Research Newsletter
July 2016
Welcome to the Centre of Inflammation Research Newsletter to keep you up-to-date with what is
happening in the Centre.
In this Newsletter:
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Staff/Students
Travel
Public Engagement
Press Releases
Available Funding
Publications
Grants
Staff/Students
Welcome
Emma Bashford – PhD student has started with Prof Roberts and is studying ‘Microwave
Radiometry’.
Dr Justin Killick – Postdoc has joined Dr Astier’s Group and will be working on
‘Molecular mechanisms controlling T cell migration in Multiple Sclerosis’.
Dr Pranvera Sadiku – Research fellow has joined Dr Walmsley’s Group and will be
working on ‘The regulation of neutrophilic inflammation by the HIF/PHD2 oxygen
sensing pathway’.
Wouter de Steenhuijsen Piters – visiting PhD student
PhD Vivas
Congratulations to Joanne Simpson in Dr Gray’s Group for passing her recent viva.
Her project title was ‘Immune regulation induced by apoptotic cells in health and in
systemic lupus erythematosus’.
Farewell
The CIR had a farewell drinks party and presentation for Dr Sharon Hannah on 20th May. All of the
CIR would like to wish Sharon every success in her new role as BioQuarter Campus Operations
Manager for the University of Edinburgh.
Travel
Train Travel Discount
Staff can save 20% on train journeys to London when travelling for
work. The University, in partnership with Key Travel, has agreed a
20% discount on Virgin East Coast trains between Edinburgh and
London.
FREE Travel Insurance
New online form for organising work related travel insurance for free. It is recommended that
anyone travelling on behalf of the University (to conferences, meetings etc.) arranges travel
insurance. Be aware your personal travel insurance may not cover work travel.
Cycles for Hire
UniCycles bike hire is for staff and students at the University of Edinburgh. UniCycles is being
delivered in partnership with EUSA and with grant funding from Cycling Scotland.
Public Engagement
@EdinUni_MeetCIR
MRC Festival of Medical Research
Researchers from the CIR have been involved in the inaugural MRC Festival of Medical Research
(18th - 26th June 2016), visiting four local schools to trial "Supercytes" a new inflammation /
immunology schools resource, in advance of the future launch. This incorporates a presentation,
short video about the CIR, a series of short, fun immune cell animations, a card game, a quiz and a
competition, complete with teacher's lesson plan integrated into the Curriculum for Excellence.
Thanks to Cathy Hawley, Lisa Kelly, Phoebe Kirkwood, Donald Davidson and everybody else who has
helped.
Boroughmuir High School – Science Careers event
Siobhan Crittenden and Lara Campana represented the University of Edinburgh/ MRC Centre for
Inflammation Research at Boroughmuir High School’s ‘Speed Date a Scientist’ science career’s event
on the evening of 15th June 2016. This event gave students in their final year of school a chance to
have short informal discussions with a range of visitors at different stages in STEM field careers. The
pupils all seemed to enjoy the evening. They came to realise that not everyone has a direct career
path and that there is great variety in science related careers.
Siobhan Crittenden (CIR PhD student) “The pupils were interested in my academic path, which had
resulted in a PhD position, and how I had made the decisions at each stage to get here.”
Pupil comments:
“The event opened my eyes to the vast number of job opportunities there are from studying a
science at university. Talking to them about how they go to where they are was really useful”
“I now have a better idea of jobs I would like to do”
“Puts a lot of what you are learning in to the context of the real world. And helps A LOT with future
plans”
“Builds confidence in your ability to talk to others, that you have never met before”
Press Releases
Immune study offers treatment hope for arthritis patients (April 2016)
Arthritis and other inflammatory conditions could be helped by new insights into how the immune
response is switched off. Scientists lead by Dr Mohini Gray have discovered how compounds
produced by the body’s immune system help to dampen inflammation and prevent damage to
healthy tissues.
Their findings suggest that therapies based on these compounds could help to treat rheumatoid
arthritis, which occurs when the immune system attacks the joints, causing pain and swelling. The
research could also lead to new treatments for sepsis, where a body-wide immune response causes
life-threatening tissue damage.
The compounds called alpha defensins are part of the body’s first line of defence against infection.
They help to stop bacteria and other infectious agents from reproducing. Studies have suggested
that the compounds may also act on cells of the immune system to prevent excessive inflammation
but until now it was not clear how the process works.
In a study involving human cells, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have shown that alpha
defensins are released by immune cells called neutrophils when they die. The alpha defensins are
then taken up by other immune cells called macrophages. The team found that the compounds
prevent macrophages from producing messenger molecules called cytokines, which drive
inflammation.
The overall effect is to limit excessive inflammation, restricting damage to healthy tissues without
compromising the body’s ability to clear the infection. These findings could lead to new treatments
for chronic inflammatory disorders including rheumatoid arthritis. Such therapies could even
prevent the condition from flaring-up in the first place, the team predicts.
The study, funded by the Medical Research Council and Arthritis UK, is published in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Study seeks to explore health benefits of vitamin D (May 2016)
Research lead by Dr Richard Mellanby is taking place to investigate the effects of vitamin D on the
health of pet dogs. Studies have begun to better understand how dogs acquire vitamin D, which has
been linked to animal health and wellbeing. Researchers also hope to learn more about whether it
has any benefits for animals recovering from surgery.
In the first of the studies, vets are assessing pet dogs that have had surgery to repair damage to
their knee ligaments. All of the animals involved in the research have been injured spontaneously,
typically while on a walk with their owners.
Previous studies have shown that animals with lower levels of vitamin D in their blood often show
signs of increased inflammation. Researchers will examine whether inflammation linked to reduced
vitamin D can hamper dogs’ recovery from surgery. Blood samples will be taken before and after
surgery to allow the team to measure vitamin D and any symptoms of inflammation.
The team will then monitors the dogs to see whether having higher levels of vitamin D before
surgery has a positive effect on their recovery. If a link is found, researchers will test if vitamin D
supplements can help to lower inflammation and improve chances of better recovery from surgery.
In a separate study, vets will investigate how dogs acquire vitamin D in the first place. It is widely
thought that dogs get most of their vitamin D from their diet. The research will explore whether
dogs can also produce vitamin D in their skin after exposure to the sun, in the same way that people
do. The findings will help to determine whether dogs are getting enough vitamin D in their diet
throughout the year.
All of the dogs taking part are owned by local people who have given permission for their pets to be
studied and the research is tightly regulated.
Congratulations to Dr Sharon Hannah on her ‘BEM’ (June 2016)
Dr Sharon Hannah was awarded a British Empire Medal "For services to medical research" in the
2016 Birthday Honours list. The British Empire Medal is a British medal awarded for meritorious
civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown.
Since being appointed manager of the Rayne Laboratory in 1994 Sharon has worked tirelessly and
very effectively for the University; as MRC/UoE CIR manager, QMRI manager, and now as University
BioQuarter Campus Operations Manager. Not long ago she was also awarded the "Hawksbee
Medal" of the Royal Society (London) for services in support of science.
University of Edinburgh researchers win prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Award (June 2016)
The UoE/GSK KMO DPAc team (Chris Mowat - Chemistry, Scott Webster - CVS, and Damian Mole CIR/Surgery) travelled to London to receive the ‘Teamwork in Innovation Award', at the Royal
Society of Chemistry Industry and Technology Awards 2016.
Congratulations to Dr Jenna Cash (June 2016)
Dr Jenna Cash, recently appointed to a Chancellor's Fellowship based in the CIR and the new Centre
for Tissue Regeneration and Repair, has been awarded a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship. In partnership
between the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust, the scheme provides support for postdoctoral
researchers who aim to become independent scientists leading their own groups.
Congratulations to Honorary Professor Adam Hill (June 2016)
Adam Hill, Consultant Respiratory Physician in NHS Lothian, has been awarded an Honorary
Professorship in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. This is in recognition of his
work in bronchiectasis, which incorporates work in the CIR undertaken in collaboration with
Professor Adriano Rossi, Dr Donald Davidson and others.
Congratulations to Professor Philippa Saunders (June 2016)
Professor Philippa Saunders has played an important role as a member of the Academy of Medical
Sciences expert working group on ‘Team Science’ which reported in March of this year. The report
called for more transparent reward systems in scientific research otherwise there was a risk that
aspiring researchers might shun large collaborations.
Peritoneal macrophages progressively derive from BM monocytes as animals age but the process
is gender-dependent (June 2016)
Macrophages are immune cells that reside in all organs of the body where they play a key role in
maintaining healthy tissues by responding to infection and injury and clearing away dying cells. Like
most immune cells, tissue macrophages were thought to be continually replenished from bone
marrow-derived cells that circulate in the blood. However, recently it has been proposed that while
some macrophages come from the blood during inflammation, those that reside in many tissues
come from cells that entered the tissue during embryo development, and subsequently survive for
years by local self-replication. This raises many questions about how mature macrophages could
survive for such an extensive period, particularly without becoming harmful to the body through
accumulation of damage to their DNA that can occur with self-replication.
This study published in Nature Communications lead by Dr S. Jenkins, used multiple cell tracking
techniques to determine exactly macrophages that are present in the body cavities are maintained.
They found that although the peritoneal cavity was initially populated with embryo-derived
macrophages during embryonic development, these were gradually replaced by cells (monocytes)
from the bone marrow as animals aged. No evidence was found that this change in make-up of the
population was due to a degeneration in the ability of embryo-derived cells to self-renew but did
find that it inherently led to a subtle change in nature of the population as animals aged. Unique to
the peritoneal cavity, they also found that the rate at which this switch in origin occurred was
dramatically different between male and female mice, potentially explaining why inflammatory
responses in this site are largely more effective in females than males.
Available Funding
Inviting projects for MSc students, £10,000 of consumables to the group hosting the research
project.
The projects are for ten months starting in November 2016 and should have two supervisors from
separate disciplines related broadly to genomics, informatics, imaging and molecular pathology. It is
expected that supervisors who wish to host a student should make their laboratory available to
prospective students for a one week “taster” project during August or September, at the start of the
course.
If interested send Tim Aitman ([email protected]) and Simon Herrington MSc course director
([email protected]) project descriptions (5-10 lines) of potential projects that you might
wish to supervise students for in the coming year, with justification of the £10,000 consumables tag
attached.
Publications
McBride O, Joshi N, Robson JM, MacGillivray T, Gray C, Fletcher AM, Dweck M, van Beek E, Rudd JH,
Newby D, Semple S. 'Positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of cellular
inflammation in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms.' European Journal of Vascular and
Endovascular Surgery 2016, vol 51, no. 4, 10.1016/j.ejvs.2015.12.018, 1/4/16
Jones HR, Robb CT, Perretti M, Rossi AG. 'The role of neutrophils in inflammation resolution'
Seminars in immunology 2016, 10.1016/j.smim.2016.03.007, 1/4/16
Szkolnicka D, Lucendo Villarin B, Moore J, Simpson K, Forbes S, Hay D. 'Reducing hepatocyte injury
and necrosis in response to paracetamol using non-coding RNAs' Stem cells translational medicine
2016, 10.5966/sctm.2015-0117, 7/4/16
Nolan TJ, Gadsby NJ, Hellyer TP, Templeton KE, McMullan R, McKenna JP, Rennie J, Robb CT, Walsh
TS, Rossi AG, Conway Morris A, Simpson AJ. 'Low-pathogenicity mycoplasma spp. alter human
monocyte and macrophage function and are highly prevalent among patients with ventilatoracquired pneumonia' Thorax 2016, 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2015-208050, 12/4/16
Robertson AL, Ogryzko NV, Henry KM, Loynes CA, Foulkes MJ, Meloni MM, Wang X, Ford C, Jackson
M, Ingham PW, Wilson HL, Farrow SN, Solari R, Flower RJ, Jones S, Whyte MK, Renshaw SA.
'Identification of benzopyrone as a common structural feature in compounds with antiinflammatory activity in a zebrafish phenotypic screen' Disease Models & Mechanisms 2016, doi:
10.1242/dmm.024935, 14/4/16
Wilson K, Auer M, Binnie M, Zheng X, Pham N, Iredale J, Webster S, Mole D. 'Overexpression of
human kynurenine-3-monooxygenase protects against 3-hydroxykynurenine-mediated apoptosis
through bidirectional non-linear feedback' Cell Death and Disease 2016, vol 7, e2197.,
10.1038/cddis.2016.87, 14/4/16
Griffith D, Lewis S, Rossi A, Rennie J, Salisbury L, Merriweather JL, Templeton K, Walsh T, RECOVER
Investigators. 'Systemic inflammation after critical illness: relationship with physical recovery and
exploration of potential mechanisms' Thorax 2016, 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2015-208114, 26/4/16
Krstajic N, Akram AR, Choudhary TR, McDonald N, Tanner MG, Pedretti E, Dalgarno PA, Scholefield
E, Girkin JM, Moore A, Bradley M, Dhaliwal K. 'Two-color widefield fluorescence microendoscopy
enables multiplexed molecular imaging in the alveolar space of human lung tissue' Journal of
Biomedical Optics 2016, vol 21, no. 4, 046009., 10.1117/1.JBO.21.4.046009, 27/4/16
Robb C, Regan KH, Dorward D, Rossi A. 'Key mechanisms governing resolution of lung inflammation'
Seminars in Immunopathology 2016, 10.1007/s00281-016-0560-6, 27/4/16
McAvoy N, Semple S, Richards JMJ, Robson AJ, Patel D, Jardine AGM, Leyland K, Cooper AS, Newby
D, Hayes P. 'Differential visceral blood flow in the hyperdynamic circulation of patients with liver
cirrhosis' Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2016, 10.1111/apt.13571, 1/5/16
Betz B, Jenks SJ, Cronshaw A, Lamont DJ, Cairns C, Manning J, Goddard J, Webb D, Mullins J, Hughes
J, McLachlan S, Strachan MWJ Price J, Conway B. 'Urinary peptidomics in a rodent model of diabetic
nephropathy highlights epidermal growth factor as a biomarker for renal deterioration in patients
with type 2 diabetes' Kidney International 2016, vol 89, no. 5, pp. 1125–1135.,
10.1016/j.kint.2016.01.015, 1/5/16
Rabinovich R, Miller BE, Wrobel K, Ranjit K, Williams MC, Drost E, Edwards LD, Lomas DA, Rennard
SI, Agusti A, Tal-Singer R, Vestbo J, Wouters EFM, John M, van Beek E, Murchison JT, Bolton CE,
MacNee W, Huang JTJ. 'Circulating desmosine levels do not predict emphysema progression but are
associated with cardiovascular risk and mortality in COPD' European Respiratory Journal 2016,
10.1183/13993003.01824-2015, 1/5/16
Cousins FL, Kirkwood PM, Murray AA, Collins F, Gibson DA, Saunders PTK. 'Androgens regulate
scarless repair of the endometrial "wound" in a mouse model of menstruation' The FASEB Journal
2016, 10.1096/fj.201600078R, 2/5/16
Conroy K, Kitto L, Henderson N. 'αv integrins: key regulators of tissue fibrosis' Cell and tissue
research 2016, 10.1007/s00441-016-2407-9, 2/5/16
Wagenfeld A, Saunders P, Whitaker L, Critchley H. 'Selective progesterone receptor modulators
(SPRMs): Progesterone receptor action, mode of action on the endometrium and treatment options
in gynaecological therapies.' Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets 2016,
10.1080/14728222.2016.1180368, 3/5/16
Coutinho A, Kipari T, Zhang Z, Esteves C, Lucas CD, Gilmour JS, Webster S, Walker B, Hughes J, Savill
J, Seckl J, Rossi A, Chapman K. '11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase type 1 is expressed in
neutrophils and restrains an inflammatory response in male mice' Endocrinology 2016,
10.1210/en.2016-1118, 4/5/16
Mills B, Bradley M, Dhaliwal K. 'Optical Imaging of Bacterial Infections' Clinical and Translational
Imaging 2016, 10.1007/s40336-016-0180-0, 4/5/16
Sharp GC, Hutchinson JL, Nanette H, Freeman T, Saunders P, Norman J. 'Transcription analysis of the
myometrium of labouring and non-labouring women' PLoS One 2016, vol 11, no. 5, e0155413.,
10.1371/journal.pone.0155413, 13/5/16
Kieback E, Hilgenberg E, Stervbo U, Lampropoulou V, Shen P, Bunse M, Jaimes Y, Boudinot P,
Radbruch A, Klemm U, Kühl AA, Liblau R, Hoevelmeyer N, Anderton SM, Uckert W, Fillatreau S.
'Thymus-derived regulatory T cells are positively selected on natural self-antigen through cognate
interactions of high functional avidity' Immunity 2016, vol 44, no. 5, pp. 1114-26.,
10.1016/j.immuni.2016.04.018, 17/5/16
Armstrong SD, Xia D, Bah GS, Krishna R, Ngangyung HF, LaCourse EJ, McSorley HJ, Kengne-Ouafo JA,
Chounna-Ndongmo PW, Wanji S, Enyong PA, Taylor DW, Blaxter ML, Wastling JM, Tanya VN,
Makepeace B. 'Stage-specific proteomes from Onchocerca ochengi, sister species of the human
river blindness parasite, uncover adaptations to a nodular lifestyle' Molecular and Cellular
Proteomics 2016, 10.1074/mcp.M115.055640, 25/5/16
Li Z, Vink CS, Mariani SA, Dzierzak E. 'Subregional localization and characterization of Ly6aGFPexpressing hematopoietic cells in the mouse embryonic head' Developmental Biology 2016,
10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.05.031, 25/5/16
Kitamura T, Pollard J, Vendrell Escobar M. 'Optical windows for imaging the metastatic tumour
microenvironment in vivo' Trends in Biotechnology 2016, 10.1016/j.tibtech.2016.05.001, 26/5/16
Barnhill E, Hollis L, Sack I, Braun J, Hoskins PR, Pankaj P, Brown C, Beek EJV, Roberts N. 'Nonlinear
multiscale regularisation in MR elastography: Towards fine feature mapping' Medical image analysis
2016, 10.1016/j.media.2016.05.012, 4/6/16
Bain C, Hawley CA, Garner H, Scott CL, Schridde A, Steers N, Mack M, Joshi A, Guilliams M,
Geissmann F, Mowat AM, Jenkins S. 'Long-lived self-renewing bone marrow-derived macrophages
displace embryo-derived cells to inhabit adult serous cavities' Nature Communications 2016, vol 7,
ncomms11852., 10.1038/ncomms11852, 13/6/16
Grants
Translational studies in lung fibrosis
Galecto Biotech AB
Dr Nikhil Hirani
01/05/2016 - 30/04/2019
£75,000.00
Analysis of hepatoctye cell cycle dynamics during liver regeneration using the Fucci2a bicistronic cell
cycle reporter mouse
SHERT Medical Research Scotland (SHERT)
Prof Neil Henderson
15/05/2016 - 09/07/2016
£2,000.00
Investigation of the role of hepatic stellate cell B8 integrins in biliary fibrosis
Wellcome Trust
Prof Neil Henderson
23/05/2016 - 17/07/2016
£2,000.00
A national study of long term outcomes of patients admitted to Scottish intensive care units with
epileptic seizures
SHERT Medical Research Scotland (SHERT)
Dr Nazir Lone
30/05/2016 - 22/07/2016
£2,000.00
Characterisation of mitochondrial respiratory function in primary gut tissue in mouse models of colitis
and human IBD
Wellcome Trust
Dr Gwo-Tzer Ho
23/05/2016 - 17/07/2016
£2,000.00
The impact of the cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol on the pathogenesis of endometriosis
SULSA Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance
Dr Douglas Gibson
01/06/2016 - 31/07/2016
£4,140.00
Any comments please contact Rebecca Aucott ([email protected])