Professor Gerard Nash

• Ph.D. Biophysics, University of London, 1979
• B.Sc. Physics (1st Class Honours), University of Manchester, 1975

After studying engineering and physics as an undergraduate, I opted to follow a research career in the biophysical sciences. My PhD was in instrumentation for automated cell characterisation but I quickly moved into blood cell mechanics and studies of the cellular physiology of the circulatory system.

My postdoc work at Guy’s and at University of Southern California revolved around analysis of the physical properties of red cells, and later leukocytes, that influence their circulation. On returning to UK and St. George’s Hospital Medical School, I applied these analytical approaches to defining biomechanical abnormalities associated with vascular disease.

On moving to Birmingham in 1989, my interest turned to the cellular adhesive properties of leukocytes and red cells, developing novel flow-based culture and adhesion assays incorporating endothelial cells. We characterised for the first time the dynamic adhesive interactions of flowing malarial parasitised red cells. However, mechanisms by which flowing neutrophils bind to vessel walls came to take precedence, and we were the first to describe the ability of surface-adherent platelets to capture flowing neutrophils.

More recent work has centred on how the local physical and stromal environments modify the responses of endothelial cells and hence recruitment of leukocytes in inflammation.  This has been carried with my long-term collaborators Ed Rainger, Chris Buckley, Helen McGettrick and Steve Watson and has been at the interface between cardiovascular sciences, immunology and bioengineering.

Research Themes

• Blood rheology and the effects of changes in the mechanical properties of red and white blood cells on the microcirculation
• Regulation of endothelial responses and of leukocyte recruitment by the local blood flow and surrounding stromal cells
• Vascular pathology linked to abnormal leukocyte recruitment