Peter West, MBiolSci, PhD

I currently work for Prof Nikos Papadopolous developing in vitro cell culture systems of airway cells. 

I have previously spent time working with Dr Jacky Smith and Prof. Ashley Woodock researching the role of nerves in respiratory diseases and in particular chronic cough, where my projects involved attempting to identify and characterise novel airway and oesophageal afferent nerves, exploring the idea that changes in these sensory systems might be important in causing cough, and looking for potential immunological drivers for this change.  

I completed my undergraduate Masters Degree in Genetics and Microbiolgy at the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield in 2005, during which I spent a year as a placement student in the Respiratory and Inflammatory Research Area at AstraZeneca, Charnwood, UK. It was at AstraZenca that I first became interested in Jacky and Ashley's work in cough and airway nerves. After my degree, I went on to study the biology of a stress response protein on microbial interactions with immune cells, with a British Heart Foundation PhD studentship "Regulation of Toll-like Receptor Signalling by Macrohpage Migration Inhibitory Factor" under the supervision of Prof Ian Sabroe and Dr Lisa Parker, in the Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield.

I moved to the University of Manchester after completing my PhD in 2009 and took up a position as a Reserach Associate in the School of Translational Medicine working under Dr Jacky Smith and Prof Ashley Woodcock. As part of this role I have also spent a short amount of time working in the laboratory of one of our collaborators Dr Brendan Canning, at the Asthma and Allergy Centre, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

I moved to the Institute of Human Development in January 2015. 

Previous Collaborators:

Dr Greg Scott - Fryer/Jacoby Lab, Oregon Health Science University, Portland, USA

Dr Brendan Canning - Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, USA

Member of The British Society for Immunology.

Member of The Society of Leukocyte Biology.

Member British Neuroscience Association

Member of European Respiratory Society

Member of European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology

PhD - BHF studentship, School of Medicine and Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield, UK.

Master of Biological Science (Genetics & Microbiology) - Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, UK.