Dr Myriam Chimen MSc, PhD

Myriam Chimen

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
chimenm@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Myriam_Chimen
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Birmingham University Research Labs
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham
B15 2WB

Myriam Chimen is Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow since October 2017. Her main interest is to understand how immune regulatory pathways controlling leukocyte trafficking are impaired with ageing and chronic inflammatory diseases. 

Qualifications

  • Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin fellowship (2017)
  • PhD, University of Birmingham (2012)
  • Masters Biochemistry University of Toulouse, France (2008)

Biography

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

Myriam completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Toulouse in France. She then completed her Masters in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Toulouse where she developed a strong interest in immunology. She decided to move to Birmingham in the laboratory of Dr Parth Narendran and Professor Ed Rainger where she investigated the immune-modulatory effects of adipokines in type 1 diabetes. Myriam completed her PhD in 2012 where she discovered a novel peptide inhibitor of trans-endothelial migration (PEPITEM) and characterised this novel pathway in health and patients with type 1 diabetes.

Myriam has continued her post-doctoral training in Birmingham on the characterisation of the receptor for PEPITEM. She then embarked on her second post-doctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Ed Rainger where she was investigating the role of platelet-monocyte interactions in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Myriam has now started working on her five-year fellowship to investigate how glucocorticoids modulate the PEPITEM pathway in ageing.

Teaching

  • BMedSc
  • MSc

Postgraduate supervision

Myriam is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Effect of age on leukocyte migration
  • Glucocorticoids and their involvement in controlling T-cell trafficking

If you are interested in studying any of these subject areas please contact Myriam on the contact details above. For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Research

Myriam’s research is focused on understanding how immune regulatory pathways are changed with ageing and age-associated chronic inflammatory conditions. In particular, Myriam wishes to investigate how the control of leukocyte trafficking is affected by the chronic, low grade, chronic inflammation (Inflammageing) associated with ageing.

  • Effect of ageing on the PEPITEM pathway
  • Role of glucocorticoids in the regulation of the PEPITEM pathway
  • Effect of ageing on B-cell trafficking

Other activities

Committee membership:

  • UK Cell Adhesion Society (UKCAS
  • BSI Leukocyte Migration Affinity Group
  • PERCAT University of Birmingham

Conference organisation:

  • Co-organiser of the 2nd ICVS away day conference  (2017)
  • Co-organiser of the 3rd BSI Leukocyte Migration Affinity Meeting - University of Leeds (2017)
  • Co-organiser of the 3rd PERCAT gala- University of Birmingham (2016)
  • Co-organiser of the 27th UK Adhesion Society Meeting in Birmingham (2015)
  • Co-organiser of the 26th UK Adhesion Society Meeting in Birmingham (2013)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Fenton, C, Martin, C, Jones, R, Croft, A, Campos, J, Naylor, A, Taylor, A, Chimen, M, Cooper, M, Lavery, G, Raza, K & Hardy, R 2021, 'Local steroid activation is a critical mediator of the anti-inflammatory actions of therapeutic glucocorticoids', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 250-260. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218493

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

Gilbert, SG, Krautter, F, Cooper, D, Chimen, M, Iqbal, AJ & Spill, F 2020, 'CASTLE: cell adhesion with supervised training and learning environment', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol. 53, no. 42, 424002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ab9e35

Krautter, F, Recio, C, Hussain, MT, Lezama, DR, Maione, F, Chimen, M & Iqbal, AJ 2020, 'Characterisation of endogenous Galectin-1 and -9 expression in monocyte and macrophage subsets under resting and inflammatory conditions.', Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, vol. 130, 110595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110595

Hopkin, S, Lord, JM & Chimen, M 2020, 'Dysregulation of leukocyte trafficking in ageing: Causal factors and possible corrective therapies', Pharmacological Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105323

Hopkin, S, Lewis, J, Krautter, F, Chimen, M & McGettrick, H 2019, 'Triggering the resolution of immune mediated inflammatory diseases: can targeting leukocyte migration be the answer?', Frontiers in Pharmacology, vol. 10, 184. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2019.00184

Borgognone, A, Shantsila, E, Worrall, S, Prompunt, E, Loka, T, Loudon, BL, Chimen, M, Rainger, GE, 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

Harrison, MJ, Chimen, M, Hussain, M, Iqbal, AJ, Senis, Y, Nash, G, Watson, S & Rainger, G 2018, 'Signalling through Src Family Kinase isoforms is not redundant in models of thrombo-inflammatory vascular disease', Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, vol. 22, no. 9, pp. 4317-4327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcmm.13721

Reyat, J, Chimen, M, Noy, P, Szyroka, J, Rainger, G & Tomlinson, M 2017, 'ADAM10-interacting tetraspanins Tspan5 and Tspan17 regulate VE-cadherin expression and promote T lymphocyte transmigration', Journal of Immunology, vol. 199, no. 2, pp. 666-676. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1600713

Apta, BHR, Chimen, M & Mcgettrick, HM 2017, 'Endocrine Regulation of Lymphocyte Trafficking In Vitro', Methods in molecular biology, vol. 1591, pp. 101-119. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6931-9_8

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Chimen, M, Apta, B & McGettrick, H 2017, Introduction: T cell trafficking in inflammation and immunity. in T-Cell Trafficking: Methods and Protocols. vol. 1591, Methods in Molecular Biology (MIMB), Springer, pp. 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6931-9_6

Other contribution

Hussain, M & Chimen, M 2018, An introduction to modelling lymphocyte migration in vitro.. <https://atlasofscience.org/an-introduction-to-modelling-lymphocyte-migration-in-vitro/>

Martin, C, Ni Chosgora, A, Chimen, M & McGettrick, H 2018, Go with the flow: Studying regulation of inflammatory T cell recruitment.. <https://atlasofscience.org/go-with-the-flow-studying-the-movement-of-t-cells-to-sites-of-inflammation/>

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

Pezhman, L, Tahrani, A & Chimen, M 2021, 'Dysregulation of Leukocyte Trafficking in Type 2 Diabetes: Mechanisms and Potential Therapeutic Avenues', Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, vol. 9, 624184. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.624184

View all publications in research portal