Professor George Edward Rainger BSc, PhD

Professor Ed Rainger

Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Deputy Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Director of Research
Professor of Chronic Inflammation

Contact details

Address
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
College of Medicine and Health
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Ed Rainger is Professor of Chronic Inflammation in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences. He has published over 120 research papers, reviews and book chapters. Although his work is broadly themed on inflammation, he has a particular interest in leukocyte trafficking and is a member of the Leukocyte Trafficking Group.

Ed is interested in the regulation of inflammation in physiological resolving responses and how these become dysregulated in chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. He believes that by understanding the ‘normal’ processes that control the inflammatory response we can identify new means of intervening therapeutically when these go wrong in disease. Ed holds a number of patents associated with his work and is working to translate new anti-inflammatory medicines which regulate pathways identified in his laboratories. 

Cardiovascular Research with Professor Ed Rainger, Dr Asif Iqbal and Dr Myriam Chimen

Qualifications

  • PhD: Comparative Immunology (1992)
  • BSc: in Marine Biology (1989)

Teaching

Biomedical Sciences Degree

2nd Year              

  • Leukocyte Recruitment in Disease

 3rd year                

  • Biology of Ageing
  • Vascular Biology and Pathology
  • Immunity and Inflammatory Disease
  • Science Communication Principals and Practise 

MBChB (Medical degree)

1st Year                

  • Respiratory Physiology

2nd year               

  • Cardiovascular Physiology 

    MSc Immunotherapy

1st year              

Peptides as therapeutics 


PhD with Integrated Study Physical Sciences for Health

1st year               

  • Cardiovascular Disease

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Rainger is interested in supervising doctoral research on in vitro modelling of the cellular pathology of atherosclerosis.

Other activities

  • Deputy Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences (2019-)
  • Director of Research for ICVS. (2019-)
  • Director Graduate Studies, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (2015-2017) 
  • Member of the British Heart Foundation Project Grants Committee (2014-2017)
  • Postdoctoral / Early Researcher, Career Development and Training (PERCAT) Committee (2012-)
  • Committee for the College Research Development Fund (2012-)
  • Member, The Postgraduate Graduate Quality Assurance Committee of the College of Medicine and Dentistry (2010-2012)
  • Member, Expert committee of the Agence d'Evaluation de la Recherche et des établissements d'Enseignement Supérieur (AERES). (2010-)
  • Deputy Director of Graduate Studies, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (2009-2015)
  • Member of the FP7-Expert Evaluator pool (2009-2013)   
  • Chairman of the UK Adhesion Society (2007-2014)
  • Medical Research Council Biomarkers Review Panel (2008; Convened once only for special call)
  • Member of the Birmingham University Biomedical Ethical Review Sub-committee (2008-2016)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Hopkin, SJ, Nathan, P, Pezhman, L, Begum, J, Manning, JE, Quinn, LM, Rainger, GE, McGettrick, HM, Iqbal, AJ & Chimen, M 2024, 'Rejuvenation of leukocyte trafficking in aged mice through PEPITEM intervention', npj Aging, vol. 10, no. 1, 33. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-024-00160-6

Lewis, JW, Frost, K, Neag, G, Wahid, M, Finlay, M, Northall, E, Abudu, O, Davis, E, Powell, E, Palmer, C, Lu, J, Rainger, E, Iqbal, A, Chimen, M, Mahmood, A, Jones, S, Edwards, J, Naylor, A & McGettrick, H 2024, 'Therapeutic avenues in bone repair: Harnessing an anabolic osteopeptide, PEPITEM, to boost bone growth and prevent bone loss', Cell Reports Medicine, vol. 5, no. 5, 101574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101574

Pezhman, L, Hopkin, S, Begum, J, Heising, S, Nasteska, D, Wahid, M, Rainger, E, Hodson, D, Iqbal, AJ, Chimen, M & McGettrick, H 2023, 'PEPITEM modulates leukocyte trafficking to reduce obesity-induced inflammation', Clinical & Experimental Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1093/cei/uxad022

Colicchia, M, Schrottmaier, WC, Perrella, G, Reyat, JS, Begum, J, Slater, A, Price, J, Clark, JC, Zhi, Z, Simpson, M, Bourne, J, Poulter, NS, Khan, AO, Nicolson, PLR, Pugh, MR, Harrison, P, Iqbal, AJ, Rainger, GE, Watson, SP, Thomas, MR, Mutch, NJ, Assinger, A & Rayes, J 2022, 'S100A8/A9 drives the formation of procoagulant platelets through GPIbα', Blood. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2021014966

Armitage, EG, Barnes, A, Patrick, K, Bechar, J, Harrison, MJ, Lavery, GG, Rainger, GE, Buckley, CD, Loftus, NJ, Wilson, ID & Naylor, AJ 2021, 'Metabolic consequences for mice lacking endosialin: LC-MS/MS-based metabolic phenotyping of serum from C56Bl/6J control and CD248 knock-out mice', Metabolomics, vol. 17, no. 2, 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-020-01764-1

Chimen, M, Evryviadou, A, Box, CL, Harrison, MJ, Hazeldine, J, Dib, LH, Kuravi, SJ, Payne, H, Price, JMJ, Kavanagh, D, Iqbal, AJ, Lax, S, Kalia, N, Brill, A, Thomas, SG, Belli, A, Crombie, N, Adams, RA, Evans, S-A, Deckmyn, H, Lord, JM, Harrison, P, Watson, SP, Nash, GB & Rainger, GE 2020, 'Appropriation of GPIbα from platelet-derived extracellular vesicles supports monocyte recruitment in systemic inflammation', Haematologica, vol. 105, no. 5, pp. 1248-1261. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2018.215145

Kapellos, TS, Taylor, L, Feuerborn, A, Valaris, S, Hussain, MT, Rainger, G, Greaves, DR & Iqbal, AJ 2019, 'Cannabinoid receptor 2 deficiency exacerbates inflammation and neutrophil recruitment', FASEB Journal, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 6154-6167. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201802524R

Kardeby, C, Falker, K, Haining, E, Criel, M, Lindkvist, M, Barroso, R, Pahlsson, P, Ljungberg, LU, Tengdelius, M, Rainger, E, Watson, S, Eble, JA, Hoylaerts, MF, Emsley, J, Konradsson, P, Watson, S, Sun, Y & Grenegard, M 2019, 'Synthetic glycopolymers and natural fucoidans cause human platelet aggregation via PEAR1 and GPIba', Blood Advances. https://doi.org/10.1182/ bloodadvances.2018024950

Kardeby, C, Falker, K, Haining, E, Criel, M, Lindkvist, M, Barroso, R, Pahlsson, P, Ljungberg, LU, Tengdelius, M, Rainger, G, Watson, S, Eble, JA, Hoylaerts, MF, Emsley, J, Konradsson, P, Watson, S, Sun, Y & Grenegard, M 2019, 'Synthetic glycopolymers and natural fucoidans cause human platelet aggregation via PEAR1 and GPIbα', Blood Advances, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 275-287. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2018024950

Noy, PJ, Gavin, RL, Colombo, D, Haining, EJ, Reyat, JS, Payne, H, Thielmann, I, Lokman, AB, Neag, G, Yang, J, Lloyd, T, Harrison, N, Heath, VL, Gardiner, C, Whitworth, KM, Robinson, J, Koo, CZ, Di Maio, A, Harrison, P, Lee, SP, Michelangeli, F, Kalia, N, Rainger, GE, Nieswandt, B, Brill, A, Watson, SP & Tomlinson, MG 2019, 'Tspan18 is a novel regulator of the Ca2+ channel Orai1 and von Willebrand factor release in endothelial cells', Haematologica, vol. 104, no. 9, pp. 1892-1905. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2018.194241

Kuravi, S, Harrison, P, Rainger, G & Nash, G 2018, 'Ability of Platelet-Derived Extracellular Vesicles to Promote Neutrophil-Endothelial Cell Interactions', Inflammation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-018-0893-5

Borgognone, A, Shantsila, E, Worrall, S, Prompunt, E, Loka, T, Loudon, BL, Chimen, M, Rainger, E, Lord, JM, Turner, A, Nightingale, P, Feelisch, M, Kirchhof, P, Lip, G, Watson, SP, Frenneaux, MP & Madhani, M 2018, 'Nitrite circumvents platelet resistance to nitric oxide in patients with heart failure preserved ejection fraction and chronic atrial fibrillation', Cardiovascular Research, vol. 114, pp. 1313–1323. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvy087

Sheriff, L, Alanazi, A, Ward, LSC, Ward, C, Munir, H, Rayes, J, Alassiri, M, Watson, SP, Newsome, PN, Rainger, GE, Kalia, N, Frampton, J, Mcgettrick, HM & Nash, GB 2018, 'Origin-specific adhesive interactions of mesenchymal stem cells with platelets influence their behavior after infusion', Stem Cells, vol. 36, no. 7. https://doi.org/10.1002/stem.2811

Chapter

Begum, J, Weaver, SRC, Iqbal, AJ, Rainger, GE & McGettrick, HM 2022, Cell migration in cardiovascular diseases. in M Schnoor, L-M Yin & S Sun (eds), Cell Movement in Health and Disease. 1st edn, Academic Press (Elsevier), pp. 159-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90195-6.00008-5

Review article

Nathan, P, Gibbs, JE, Rainger, GE & Chimen, M 2021, 'Changes in Circadian Rhythms Dysregulate Inflammation in Ageing: Focus on Leukocyte Trafficking', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 12, 673405. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.673405

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