Congratulations go to Dr Bindi Brook this week, who has won a collaborative award from the Wellcome Trust, led by Professor James Moore at Imperial College London together with Professor Robert Nibbs at the University of Glasgow.
The programme will run for five years and is entitled 'Integrative transport phenomena in chemokine gradient establishment'.
Summary of the programme:
"White blood cells protect us from infection, but also contribute to the development of many diseases, such as asthma, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. To do this they have to be able to get out of the blood and move around inside our organs. This cell movement is guided by chemokines. These are attractant molecules that are released by cells and form ‘chemokine concentration gradients’ inside the tissues of our organs, with the highest concentration near the cell releasing the chemokine. White blood cells sense these gradients and move towards the source of the chemokine. If the gradients are not set up correctly, then white blood cells have trouble finding their way. This can have profound consequences in health and disease. It is important therefore that we understand the complexities of how chemokine concentration gradients are set up, maintained and controlled, and develop a better appreciation of how they make whiteblood cells move. The combined expertise of our multidisciplinary team of biologists, engineers and mathematicians will provide unique insights into these processes, and their findings could ultimately benefit many areas of medicine."
Posted on Thursday 8th June 2017