Contact
Head of Section
Professor Sejal Saglani
s.saglani@imperial.ac.uk
If you are interested in working with a particular group, please e-mail anyone of the Principal Investigators through the e-mail links on individual webpages.
What we do
The Inflammation Repair and Development (IRD) Section encompasses research in immunobiology of leukocytes, the blood cells that function as part of the body's immune system, and their interaction with lung tissue, integrated with investigation of developmental, environmental or medical factors that contribute to lung disease. We study diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases (ILD), respiratory infections and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Why it is important
- Respiratory disease is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, however effective treatments for many lung diseases are limited, they may provide symptom relief, but few are disease modifying. At the same time certain medical interventions aimed at prolonging life, such as mechanical ventilation, can cause injury to the lungs which may lead to acute lung damage or long-term structural changes. Our section aims to identify new treatments to repair disease or damaged lungs.
- A fundamental knowledge of the immunobiology of leukocytes is essential to understand how the body reacts to environmental insults, infection and injury. We investigate leukocyte development, from bone marrow, their recruitment, retention and recirculation through tissues and their role in maintenance of immune homeostasis within the lung as well as their contribution to host defence during infections.
Impact of our research
Research by groups in our section has:
- Discovered a new sub-lingual (under the tongue) treatment for hayfever.
- Identified a novel class of drugs to reduce inflammation in chronic neutrophilic lung diseases such as COPD and severe asthma that are currently being developed for use in man.
- Pioneered tailored treatments for children with asthma by using age-appropriate in vivo models along with patient samples.
- Identified key proteins that are altered in in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), these are currently being followed up in international clinical trials as potential treatment biomarkers.
Our research hubs
IRD research hubs
extra information
- Related centres and facilities
- Events and meetings
- Key techniques
- Key publications
- Public Engagement
- Through the monthly IRD seminar series leading experts in the fields of inflammation, repair and development from around the UK and beyond present their work to the department. They also spend the day in the department, meeting the students, postdocs and Principal Investigators.
Find out more about IRD Monday Seminar Series and Journal Club.
- For more information see our page Techniques and training.
Lloyd C, Puttur F, Denney L, Gregory L, Vuononvirta J, Oliver R, McGhee E, Pease J, Krummel MF, Headley MB, Carlin L. Pulmonary environmental cues drive group 2 innate lymphoid cell dynamics in mice and humans. Sci Immunol. 2019 Jun 07;4(36). doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aav7638
Sejal Saglani, Lisa G. Gregory, Avneet K. Manghera, William J. Branchett, Faith Uwadiae, Lewis J. Entwistle, R. A. Oliver, Jessica E. Vasiliou, Rebekah Sherburn, Stephen Lui, F. Puttur, David Vöhringer, Simone A. Walker, James Buckley, Ruth Grychtol, Valentina Fainardi, Laura Denney, Adam Byrne, Erika von Mutius, Andrew Bush and Clare M. Lloyd. Inception of early-life allergen–induced airway hyperresponsiveness is reliant on IL-13+CD4+ T cells. Sci Immunol. 2018 Sep 7;3(27). doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aan4128
Patel D, Peiro T, Shoemark A, Akthar S, Walker S, Grabiec A, Jackson P, Hussell T, Gaggar A, Xu X, Trevor J, Li J, Steele C, Tavernier G, Blalock JE, Niven R, Gregory L, Simpson A, Lloyd C, Snelgrove RJ. An extracellular matrix fragment drives epithelial remodeling and airway hyper-responsiveness. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Aug 22; 10(455). pii: eaaq0693. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaq0693
Pyle CJ, Uwadiae FI, Swieboda DP, Harker JA. Early IL-6 signalling promotes IL-27 dependent maturation of regulatory T cells in the lungs and resolution of viral immunopathology. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Sep 27;13(9). doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006640
De Simoni A, Horne R, Fleming L, Bush A, Griffiths C. What do adolescents with asthma really think about adherence to inhalers? Insights from a qualitative analysis of a UK online forum. BMJ Open 2017;7:e015245. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015245
Scadding GW, Calderon MA, Shamji MH, Eifan AO, Penagos M, Dumitru F, Sever ML, Bahnson HT, Lawson K, Harris KM, Plough AG, Panza JL, Qin T, Lim N, Tchao NK, Togias A, Durham SR. Effect of 2 Years of Treatment With Sublingual Grass Pollen Immunotherapy on Nasal Response to Allergen Challenge at 3 Years Among Patients With Moderate to Severe Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: The GRASS Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2017 Feb 14;317(6):615-625. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.21040.PMID: 28196255
Shamji MH, Durham SR. Mechanisms of allergen immunotherapy for inhaled allergens and predictive biomarkers. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Dec;140(6):1485-1498. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2017.10.010. Review. PMID: 29221580
Zhang Y, Poobalasingam T, Yates LL, Walker SA, Taylor MS, Chessum L, Harrison J, Tsaprouni L, Adcock IM, Lloyd CM, Cookson WO, Moffatt MF, Dean CH. Manipulation of dipeptidylpeptidase 10 in mouse and human in vivo and in vitro models indicates a protective role in asthma. Dis Model Mech. 2018 Jan 29;11(1). pii: dmm031369. doi: 10.1242/dmm.031369.
Toby M Maher, Ellen M van der Aar, Olivier Van de Steen, Lisa Allamassey, Julie Desrivot, Sonia Dupont, Liesbeth Fagard, Paul Ford, Ann Fieuw, Wim Wuyts Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of GLPG1690, a novel autotaxin inhibitor, to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (FLORA): a phase 2a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2018 May 18. pii: S2213-2600(18)30181-4. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(18)30181-4
TM Maher, E Oballa, JK Simpson, J Porte, A Habgood, WA Fahy, A Flynn, PL Molyneaux,et Al., An epithelial biomarker signature for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an analysis from the multicentre PROFILE cohort study. Lancet Respir Med. 2017 Dec;5(12):946-955. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(17)30430-7. Epub 2017 Nov 14
Loser S, Gregory LG, Zhang Y, Schaefer K, Walker SA, Buckley J, Denney L, Dean CH, Cookson WOC, Moffatt MF, Lloyd CMet al., 2017, Pulmonary ORMDL3 is critical for induction of Alternaria-induced allergic airways disease. J Allergy Clin Immunol, Vol: 139, Pages: 1496-+, ISSN: 0091-6749
As a Section we are actively involved in public engagement activities for the Department and we have received funding from the Wellcome Trust for a new engagement project called Breathing Together.
Previous projects include:
- The Heart and Lung Convenience Store
- The Heart and Lung Repair Shop
- DIY Heart Cells
- Blood Lines
- Heart on Your Hand
For full details of all of NHLI's public engagement activities see our webpages.
Our researchers
Professor Salman H Siddiqui
Professor Salman H Siddiqui
Clinical Chair of Respiratory Medicine
Professor Robert J Snelgrove
Professor Robert J Snelgrove
Professor of Respiratory Science
Dr Iain D Stewart
Dr Iain D Stewart
Advanced Research Fellow (Rayne Foundation)
Professor Paul J Turner
Professor Paul J Turner
Clin Professor in Anaphylaxis,Paediatric Allergy & Clin Imm
--tojpeg_1473680102479_x4.jpg)