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Biography
I obtained a first class Honours BSc. degree in Life Sciences (1997) and an MSc in Cardiovascular Pharmacology (1999) from Queen's University, Canada. Subsequently, I moved to the UK to undertake PhD studies with Professors Terry Bennett and Sheila Gardiner at the University of Nottingham. During this time, I was introduced to their novel in vivo cardiovascular model that allows simultaneous monitoring of blood flow velocity in three different vascular beds in a whole-model system, whilst also continuously monitoring mean arterial pressure and heart rate. My interests in drug discovery and the power of integrative pharmacological approaches were stimulated by these early investigations of the cardiovascular effects of sibutramine that were undertaken in collaboration with Knoll Pharmaceuticals Ltd. I was awarded my PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2002. Immediately thereafter, I moved to the Microvascular Research Laboratories at the University of Bristol to undertake postdoctoral work with Professor David Bates on the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) splice variants in angiogenesis. This led to a seminal publication in Cancer Research in 2004 on the role of VEGF165b as a potential inhibitory VEGF-A splice variant. During this period, my research became focussed on the molecular mechanisms by which VEGF-A splicing could be regulated. This work helped me to secure a Wellcome Trust Advanced Fellowship that I held from 2007 until 2009.
In September 2010, following the retirements of both Professor Gardiner and Professor Bennett, I returned to Nottingham to take up a Lectureship in Cardiovascular Pharmacology and to undertake the running of the Haemodynamics Laboratory at a time when it was heavily underpinning the in vivo aspects of a major £3M Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery (SDD) programme. I was promoted to Associate Professor in Cardiovascular Pharmacology in 2015 and was appointed to a Chair position in 2019. Over the last nine years, I have established the Haemodynamics Laboratory as a major asset for Drug Discovery in Nottingham, delivered the SDD programme and have attracted major funding from Heptares Therapeutics, Promega and AstraZeneca. I have maintained my interests in VEGF and have successfully established independent research programmes investigating the molecular pharmacology of VEGF receptor function and the cardiovascular consequences of VEGF receptor inhibition.
My research group presently includes 4 PhD students, three postdoctoral fellows and a senior research technician. I currently hold a programme grant from MRC (£2.4m as CI; 2016-2021), as well as grants from H2020-MSCA-ITN (€3,844,800; University of Nottingham share €606,345), the British Heart Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust (£4.5m for a Wellcome Trust 4-year Doctoral Training Programme). In additional, I am a grants panel member for NC3Rs and act as the Nottingham Deputy Director of the Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors funded by the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham (£10m).