Pharmacology and Toxicology
Head - Professor Jane Mitchell
The research focuses on the mechanisms involved in inflammation and pathogenesis of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. In terms of our focus on respiratory disease, such diseases account for a significant amount of illness and deaths in the UK.
For example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is estimated to kill 30,000 people each year - almost double the European average. This is a difficult condition to treat, and although largely due to smoking, gets progressively worse, even when patients stop smoking. Asthma, another very common disease of the airways, can be well controlled with medication. Nevertheless, the NHS spends in excess of £2 billion a year treating patients with asthma, half of which is spent on just 10% of patients - those with severe asthma, who do not respond to steroid treatment. Consequently, there is a significant effort to discover alternative therapies for severe asthmatics, who are most at risk. Cough is the most common respiratory complaint for which medical attention is sought, often presenting as the first and most persistent symptom of many inflammatory airways diseases. The most commonly sought treatment for cough is over-the-counter remedies; however, there is no good evidence for the effectiveness of such medicines. Pulmonary hypertension is a chronic disease that can have a devastating effect. This disease, although manageable, has no cure and kills 1-2% of people each year. Another area of research focuses on the increasing evidence that inhalation of very small, nanosized particles in the air aggravate (and may even cause) cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases; episodes of particulate air pollution cause increased illness and deaths related to cardiopulmonary incidents. The recent discovery of nanomaterials, which are synthesised from unique engineered, naniparticulate materials, has raised the question whether occupational exposure to these airborne, nanoparticulates, might also have adverse health effects.
Our focus on cardiovascular disease, independent of respiratory factors, is led by Professor Mitchell who is interested in the pharmacological pathways in endothelial cells, vascular smooth muscle, cardiac myocytes and platelets. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the developed world and our ability as a section to parallel respiratory and vascular studies provides important synergies.
A wide range of in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro models have been established within the Section to address fundamental mechanistic and clinical questions in order to treat and/or avoid disease, many of which are unique. Broad-ranging molecular cellular analyses are used in these models. Another singular feature of this Section is its interest in both the lung and the cardiovasculature, straddling the interests of the National Heart and Lung Institute. The research is multidisciplinary, involving collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry, clinicians, chemists, material scientists, biophysicists, minerologists, engineers and government agencies. The Section leaders hold grants from prestigious UK research councils (MRC, NERC, EPSRC, Wellcome Trust), the European Commission, NIH and Industry. The section is actively involved in the MRC-HPA Centre for Environmental Health and Air Pollution as well as the MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma. The Section leaders sit on funding committees of the BBSRC, Wellcome Trust and British Lung Foundation, as well as specialist European research committees such as the German Research Foundation.
In addition to a strong track record in research, the Section is committed to educating future scientists and are involved in teaching at undergraduate, masters and PhD level.
