Summary
Nick is a Clinical Reader and consultant in Gastroenterology. His key clinical and research interests focus on intestinal inflammation in the context of inflammatory bowel diseases (such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), but also in gut inflammation resulting from certain treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors.
His research group focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for mediating chronic intestinal inflammation, and understanding the dialogue between intestinal microbes and host immunity. His lab is also interested in understanding how cell-specific and tissue-specific transcriptional programmes, including cytokine-responsive networks, disclose important information about disease pathogenesis, and how these "molecular signatures" can be harnessed to predict patient outcomes.
He was previously awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (2013-2019). He completed specialist registrar training in gastroenterology and internal medicine in London (Hammersmith, St Mary’s). He has also been awarded an MSc (Imperial College London) and PhD in immunology (King’s College London). Major funding has been awarded by the Wellcome Trust, MRC and Crohn’s and Colitis UK. Some key publications include; Powell N, et al. Gastroenterology (2015); 149:456-467, Goldberg R, et al. Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2015); 12:271-283, Powell N, et al. Immunity (2012); 37:674-84.
Publications
Journals
Alexander J, Powell N, Marchesi J, et al., 2023, Considerations for peripheral blood transport and storage during large-scale multicentre metabolome research, Gut, ISSN:0017-5749, Pages:1-4
Alexander JL, Mullish BH, Danckert NP, et al., 2023, The gut microbiota and metabolome are associated with diminished COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibody responses in immunosuppressed inflammatory bowel disease patients, Ebiomedicine, Vol:88, ISSN:2352-3964
Liu Z, Alexander J, LIN K, et al., 2023, Infliximab and tofacitinib attenuate neutralizing antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Omicron variants in IBD patients following 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Gastroenterology, Vol:164, ISSN:0016-5085, Pages:300-303.e3
Liu Z, Le K, Zhou X, et al., 2023, Neutralising antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 wild-type and Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 variants in infliximab and vedolizumab treated patients with inflammatory bowel disease after three doses of COVID-19 vaccine: a prospective multicentre cohort study (CLARITY), The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Vol:8, ISSN:2468-1253, Pages:145-156
Burns GL, Bruce JK, Minahan K, et al., 2023, Type 2 and type 17 effector cells are increased in the duodenal mucosa but not peripheral blood of patients with functional dyspepsia, Frontiers in Immunology, Vol:13, ISSN:1664-3224