Personal statement
I am a research scientist and lecture in Pharmacology and cell signalling here in SIPBS. My research interests lie in the area of GPCRs, focussing on Proteinase activated receptors (PARs).
In particular I am interested in the pharmacology of PAR2 and its pathophysiological role in inflammatory disease. Specifically investigating chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and latterly the role of PAR2 in cancer, looking at prostate and breast cancer cell models.
I have been working on novel small molecule modulators of PAR2 in collaboration with Dr Craig Jamieson from Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Our group consists of 3 PhD students, working in different areas of cell Signalling, as part of the Cellular basis of disease group within SIPBS. I am co-head of the Research committee here in SIPBS and as such regularly sit on the Research and knowledge exchange management meetings. I am also part of the University wide research committee.
Teaching
I was awarded my PG Cert in teaching, learning and assesment in 2016 where I also become a recognised fellow of the higher education academy.
I have since 2014 taught the PP904 compulsory PhD class on abstract writing, poster presentation and presentation skills. I have also been actively involved in the organisation of the CPU summer school run here in SIPBS. I have delivered lectures to the undergraduate 3rd year Biomedical cohort - Drugs and disease 3 class.
Currently I am actively teaching and the course co-ordinater for the PP904 class, I am teaching on the BM937, BM906 and MP961 all Master level courses with the latter linked to my Masters of research project student. I am also teaching/assessing the BM432, 4th year honours cohort from the Biomedical degree.
Research interests
Current Collaborators:
CXCL12-IKKa project = Professor Valerie Speirs (University of Aberdeen) and Dr Craig Jamieson (UoS)
PAR2-Osteoarthrits project = Professor Robin Plevin (UoS), Dr Anne Crilly (University of the West of Scotland), Dr Craig Jamieson (UoS) and Dr Zahra Rattray (UoS)
Projects
- Development and preclinical validation of novel PAR2 inhibitors for the treatment of Osteoarthritis
- McIntosh, Kathryn (Principal Investigator) Crilly, Anne (Co-investigator) Jamieson, Craig (Co-investigator) Plevin, Robin (Co-investigator) Rattray, Zahra (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2022
- Developing novel inhibitors to prevent the induction of CXCL12 in cancer cells
- McIntosh, Kathryn (Principal Investigator)
- CXCL12 plays an important role in a number of diseases. In cancer it has a key role in sustaining the tumour microenvironment and is implicated in ovarian and breast cancers. One strategy is to develop new drugs that block the formation of CXCL12 prior to the activation of its receptor CXCR4.
- 13-Jan-2019 - 02-Jan-2019
- Preventing the damaging effects of cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatment on human endothelial cells targeting the JNK pathway
- Plevin, Robin (Principal Investigator) Boyd, Marie (Co-investigator) McIntosh, Kathryn (Co-investigator)
- Preventing the damaging effects of cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatment on human endothelial cells targeting the JNK pathway
- 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2023
- Inhibition of human CXCL12 expression by novel inhibitory kappa B kinase alpha compounds - a novel approach for new drug development in breast cancer
- McIntosh, Kathryn (Principal Investigator) Patton, Chloe (Post Grad Student)
- 08-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2021
- Investigating the role of the non-canconical arm of the NFkB pathway in pancreatic cancer, utilising novel inhibitory compounds.
- McIntosh, Kathryn (Principal Investigator)
- The NFkB pathway is an important transcription factor pathway involved in the regulation of a large number of cellular processes. While the canonical arm of this pathway has been studied extensively the non-canonical arm has been largely overlooked. Is has however been implicated in cell growth, proliferation and survival in cancer, therefore inhibiting components of this pathway is an attractive therapeutic approach to regulating cancer disease progression [3]. We have synthesised selective inhibitors of the kinases IKKa, and NIK which require further pharmacological characterisation, and their use will develop our understanding of the role of these kinases in cancer.
- 01-Jan-2018 - 02-Jan-2019
- Development of novel PAR2 antagonists to treat inflammatory disease
- McIntosh, Kathryn (Principal Investigator)
- Based on the recently published PAR2 crystal structure, a novel series of PAR2 antagonists were developed - namely the AZ series. However these require further target validation and elucidation of there pharmacological properties, and from these novel derivatives will be developed.
- 05-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2021
More projects
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Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Hamnett Wing
Hamnett Wing
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