Stephen Hopkins, PhD

Consultant Scientist at Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Honorary Reader with the University of Manchester. I lead the Cytokine and Inflammation Research Laboratory in Research & Development Directorate at Salford Royal. My primary affilaition and collaborations are with the Stroke and Vascular Centre, within the Cardiovascular Institute, but we also have collaborations with other clinical groups within and external to Manchester University in the area of cytokine and inflammation research.

Steve graduated from North East London Polytechnic in 1976, with a 2.1 in Applied Biology, which included a year of research with Geoffry Asherson and George Janossy in the Immunology Section at the Medical Research Council Clinical Research Centre in Harrow. He obtained a PhD in Immunopharmacology, while working as a research assistant in the Department of Pharmacology at University College London, under the supervision of Dr Maureen Dale. On moving to the University of Manchester Rheumatic Diseases Centre at Hope Hospital (now Salford Royal) in 1978, Steve established a small laboratory to study immune impact of anti-rheumatic drugs.

In 1984 eight months were spent in the Laboratory of Molecular Immunoregulation at the National Cancer Institute, Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Maryland, with Joe Oppenheim, to study of the new field of cytokine biology. Steve returned to the Rheumatic Diseases Centre in 1985 and spent the next years investigating the role of cytokines in arthritis and in experimental models of inflammation and immunity.

Currently Consultant Scientist at Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Honorary Reader with the University of Manchester, Steve leads a laboratory that has specialised in developing precise methods for measuring inflammation, cytokines and immune activation, and currently focuses on inflammation research in the context of stroke and other brain pathology. Steve is also the Designated Individual for tissues collected for research at the Trust.
 

Cytokines, Inflammation and Immunity

The principal aim of our research is to identify the role of cytokines in the regulation of inflammatory and immune responses, both in peripheral tissues and the central nervous system, currently in the context of stroke, neurosurgery and schizophrenia. Interests include investigating the relationship between cytokine expression and disease, how cytokines regulate associated systemic responses, how the immune response is affected and what this might tell us about infection after stroke or other trauma. Our studies have involved collaborations with a number of clinical and experimental biology groups, both locally and internationally.

FMHS Vascular and Stroke Centre and Salford Royal Foundation Trust:

Mr James Galea (Neurosurgery)

Dr Margaret Hoadley (Laboratory)

Mrs Sharon Hulme (Stroke)

Ms Karen Illingworth (Laboratory)

Professor Andrew King (Neurosurgery)

Mr Hiren Patel (Neurosurgery)

Dr Adrian Parry-Jones (Stroke)

Ms Sylvia Scarth (Laboratory)

Dr Craig Smith (Stroke)

Professor Pippa Tyrrell (Stroke)

Mr Andy Vail (Biostatistics)

FMHS Brain Behaviour and Mental Health Institute:

Professor Bill Deakin

Faculty of Life Sciences:

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell

Professor Stuart Allan

Royal Preston Hospital:

Dr Hedley Emsley

 
SMDN-Center for Cardiovascular Medicine and Cerebrovascular Disease Prevention,
Via Trento, Italy:

Professor Mario Di Napoli,

 

We have developed a range of biological, immunological and molecular techniques to evaluate immune and inflammatory activity. These have included biological and immunoassays for measurement of cytokines, quantitative molecular techniques to examine gene expresssion and methods to evaluate immune capacity. We have used these to identify expression of cytokines and expression of immunity in both clinical disease and experimental studies,

BSc Applied Biology (2i Hons) Naorth East London Polytechnic, 1975

PhD Immunopharmacology, University College London, 1980