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Professor Gerard Nash, Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham presents this seminar.
Abstract: Local variations in flow conditions and in blood rheology influence the efficiency with which leukocytes are brought into contact with and adhere to the wall of blood vessels. At the same time, the responses of endothelial cells which control adhesion and migration by expressing adhesion receptors and pro-migratory agents, are modulated by the shear stresses that they experience. Perfusion systems and manipulation of blood contents, have enabled us to show how local shear stress and disturbance of flow, and variations in blood haematocrit and red cell aggregation, all influence capture of leukocytes at the ‘vessel’ wall. Flow-based culture systems have allowed us also to investigate mechanisms underlying modulation of endothelial responses. We find, for instance, that endothelial cells show great plasticity in their ‘inflamatory’ responses, based more on changes in physico-chemical culture conditions than their vascular origin. While these phenotypic changes are paralleled by changes in patterns of gene expression, the precise cause-and-effect relationship remains hard to define.
Biography: Professor Nash obtained a BSc in Physics from Manchester (1975) and a PhD in Biophysics from London (Middlesex Hospital Medical School, 1979). He has worked since in four Medical Schools (Guy’s, University of Southern California, St. George’s and University of Birmingham), becoming Professor of Cardiovascular Rheology in Birmingham in 2001. Initially Professor Nash worked on the structural determinants of the mechanical properties of red and white blood cells. More latterly, the emphasis has shifted to the factors regulating recruitment of leukocytes from blood into tissue. His group has specialised in developing in vitro, flow-based models and cultures of human primary cells (endothelial cells and stromal cells), to reproduce aspects of inflammatory disorders such as atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The models have enabled them to show how the local physicochemical environments in specific vessels or organs may condition the recruitment process, and underly tissue specific responses, and localisation or pre-dispostion to disease.
Light refreshments served from 3.30pm in the Staff Breakout Room, Room 3.24, Royal School of Mines.