My research focuses on the alteration of platelet and endothelial cell function in vascular diseases. Several novel aspects of platelet biology are investigated in my laboratory.
In addition to canonical cell signalling, we have been investigating for a number of years the effect of oxidative stress on platelet function. Although there are a number of questions remaining, we started to understand the molecular mechanisms at the interface between protein oxidation and platelet function. This is an almost entirely unexplored aspect of platelet biology that plays an important role in a number of conditions associated with an increased thrombotic risk, which include diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
Our understanding of platelet functions is increasing and a variety of novel roles are discovered. In my laboratory, we actively investigate the relevance of platelet-derived microvesicles in vascular conditions associated with aging and metabolic disorders, the involvement of platelet-leukocyte crosstalk and heterotypic complex formation in vascular inflammatory syndromes and the participation of platelet-secreted molecules in tissue-degenerative syndromes such as myocardial infarction and dementia.
Because of my background in pharmacology, in addition to mechanistic studies aiming to understand the physiopathological events involving platelets in the human vascular system, a number of new small molecules and peptides are investigated in my laboratory in order to translate our expertise into novel drug candidates for the protection of vascular health in a number of human diseases.
As an independent investigator I have worked for six years at the University of Bath as Lecturer in Vascular Pharmacology and two years at the University of Exeter as Senior Lecturer in Vascular Medicine. After three in Germany at the University Clinic Eppendorf (UKE) of the University of Hamburg where I was sponsored by the European Research Council with a mobility fellowship, in 2022 I have taken a position as Reader in Cardiovascular Biomedicine at the Hull York Medical School, where I am member of the Centre for Biomedicine and the Biomedical Institute for Multimorbidity. My research in the fields of thrombosis and inflammation has been published in over 55 peer-reviewed articles and has been sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the European Research Council (ERC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and Alzheimer Research UK (ARUK).
University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Research Group Leader and Marie Curie Fellow, August 2019 – August 2022.
University of Exeter, Senior lecturer in Vascular Biomedicine, May 2017 – August 2019.
University of Bath, Lecturer in Cardiovascular Pharmacology, March 2010 – May 2017.
King’s College London, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, November 2006 – March 2010.
University of Bristol, Pre- and Post-doctoral Research Assistant, October 2000 – November 2006.