Jeremy C. Parker

Biography

Dr. Jeremy Parker is a postdoctoral research associate in the National Heart and Lung Institute, Molecular Genetics and Genomics Section at Imperial College London. He completed his PhD at the University of UIster at Coleraine in July 2006 where he studied structure-function aspects of glucose-dependant insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) as a potential therapeutic in Type 2 Diabetes within the Diabetes Research Group. His postdoctoral career began with a shift in disease state when he took up a research fellow position at Queen's University Belfast in the Respiratory Research Group (recently renamed the Centre for Infection and Immunity) in September 2006 where he stayed until taking up this current post. The post focussed on paediatric asthma, specifically the changes observed in the bronchial epithelium of asthmatic children. His role was to develop, characterise and establish a 3-D model of well-differentiated bronchial epithelium using the Air-Liquid Interface System, more succinctly termed a Differentiated ALI Culture. He used this model to investigate airways remodelling under stimulation with IL-13 and from this study the model was then used to assess other Th2 inflammatory cytokines implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma, specifically characteristics such goblet cell hyperplasia and mucus hypersecretion.

Research Interest

Molecular Genetics, Genomics