Supervisor View Full Details 2nd

• cell and developmental biology/regenerative medicine
• neuroscience and mental health
• Other

Diabetic complications, vascular biology, angiogenesis, ophthalmology, wound-healing, stem cell therapy.

• Medicine
• Surgery
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Ophthalmology
• Paediatrics
• Pathology

• Cardiology
• Cardiac Surgery
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology
• Geriatric Medicine
• Haematology
• Immunology
• Neonatology
• Nephrology
• Neurophysiology
• Oncology
• Orthopaedic surgery
• Pharmacology
• Physiology
• Respiratory Medicine
• Vascular Medicine

My research group is primarily interested in understanding the pathophysiological, biochemical, cellular and molecular basis of vascular disease; using this fundamental knowledge for therapeutic target identification and drug development. Over many years there has been a particular focus on the retinal vasculature (including diabetic retinopathy, vascular occlusions, macular degeneration and retinopathy of prematurity). Our work has provided the preclinical basis for several phase I/III clinical trials and is very translationally orientated.

In recent years we have expanded our angiogenesis, cell therapy and regenerative medicine interests to include peripheral vascular disease, cardiac ischaemia, diabetic microvascular complications and wound healing. While we conduct sophisticated laboratory-based molecular cell biology approaches using in vitro and in vivo model-systems, we also isolate stem cells from peripheral and umbilical cord blood and generate induced pluripotent stem cells from patients. Much of this work is clinically orientated and most of our projects include clinical academics as integral partners in the research.

My group provides a unique basis for an enthusiastic clinical trainee to become embedded in a multidisciplinary, internationally recognised research programme and use their specialty knowledge to conduct laboratory and/or clinic-based research of the highest quality. Within the framework of the Wellcome-HRB ICAT programme, we will be encouraging publication outputs, follow-on fellowships and clinical academic career-building opportunities.

We will be providing a PhD project based around regenerative vascular biology which is a major theme of the Stitt research group. The project can be configured according to the clinical expertise if the PhD candidate but will be focused around the therapeutic potential of cell therapy to regenerate damaged blood vessels or the use of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to provide laboratory-based insight into disease pathogenesis and/or drug responsiveness. The Stitt research group operates in close partnership with other groups in the Centre for Experimental Medicine. Dr Reinhold Medina, Dr Andriana Margariti, Dr David Grieve, Dr Tim Curtis, Prof. Noemi Lois and Prof Tunde Peto can all provide co-supervisory input according to the nature of the project.

The range of projects that can be offered in the Stitt group are:
1. The therapeutic potential of endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) to regulate angiogenesis and evoke repair of damaged blood vessels in various organs.
2. Harnessing pericyte and endothelial progenitors for combinatorial cell therapy to treat diabetic microvascular disease.
3. Patient-linked endothelial cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells to analyse personalised drug responsiveness, identify molecular pathways involved in disease progression and as a basis for precision medicine.
4. Identifying the molecular basis for diabetes-induced damage to endogenous reparative endothelial progenitors and progression of vasodegenerative disease.
5. Regulating microRNA pathways to enhance vasoreparative efficacy of ECFCs in the context of cell therapy.
6. Overcoming the effects of diabetes or age-related modification of the extracellular matrix to improve the therapeutic potential of exogenous stem cells into damaged tissues.