Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical SciencesCardiovascular and metabolic disease

Cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CMD) are the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for millions of deaths each year. Our research programmes examine the molecular pathways responsible for these groups of diseases. Key research interests of the group include:

  • blood vessel dysfunction in vascular diseases (McCarron, Wilson)
  • electrophysiological pathways in pulmonary vascular function (Drummond, Kennedy)
  • immune cell responses in cardiac inflammation (Rotondo, Lawrence)
  • platelet dysfunction, cardiotoxicity and cardiac remodelling (Currie, Cunningham)
  • vascular physiology in pulmonary hypertension (McLean, Tian)
  • vascular cell phenotypic transformation (Coats)

Research in the CMD group is supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences, British Heart Foundation, Heart Research UK, Medical Research Council (MRC), Medical Research Scotland, Tenovus Scotland, and Wellcome Trust.

Research group members

Dr Paul Coats

Lecturer

My research activities focus on understanding the mechanism that drives phenotype switching in vascular cells associated with atherosclerosis.

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Dr Margaret Rose Cunningham

Senior Lecturer

My research aims to elucidate the involvement of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) in platelet function, anti-cancer cardiotoxicity, inflammation and pain.

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Dr Susan Currie

Reader

My research focuses on understanding cardiovascular calcium handling in health and disease.

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Dr Robert Drummond

Dr Robert Drummond

Teaching Fellow

Our work focusses on the understanding how dysregulated electrical activity in pulmonary vein muscle cells leads to atrial fibrillation.

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Professor Gwyn Gould

Professor Gwyn Gould

Professor

Our work focusses upon mechanisms of membrane trafficking in health and disease, with emphasis on the role of glucose transporters in diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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Dr Charles Kennedy

Dr Charles Kennedy

Academic Visitor

My research focuses on the role of purinergic receptors in the pulmonary vascular bed.

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Mandy MacLean

Professor Mandy MacLean

Professor

My research focus is on the pharmacological changes that occur in the pulmonary circulation with pulmonary hypertension.

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Professor John McCarron

Professor John McCarron

Professor

Our work focuses on the regulation of blood vessel physiology, with emphasis on understanding how intercellular signalling is disturbed in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension.

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Dr Karla Neves

Dr Karla Neves

Professor

My research focuses on vascular biology and mechanisms underlying vascular dysfunction in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Recent efforts focus on identifying the mechanisms by which anti-cancer therapies cause cardiovascular dysfunction.

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Dr Dino Rotondo

Dr Dino Rotondo

Senior Teaching Fellow

Regulation of human immune cell responses involved in inflammation.

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Lian Tian

Dr Lian Tian

Chancellor’s Fellow

My research focuses on right ventricular physiology, biology, biomechanics and modelling in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Recent focus is on sex-dependent right ventricular fibrosis and function in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

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Dr Calum Wilson

Dr Calum Wilson

Chancellor’s Fellow

We aim to understand how blood vessel function is impaired in obesity.

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Postgraduate opportunities

Our Graduate School offers research training in exciting scientific areas

Biomedical Science Masters courses

We offer both MRes and MSc courses in biomedical sciences which have projects in various research areas related to our research.

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