Paul Kirkham

Biography

Professor Kirkham joined the University of Wolverhampton in 2013 from Imperial College London. In 2014 he was made Professor of Cell biology and now heads up the Respiratory disease research group.  Professor Kirkham completed his first degree in Biochemistry at Leeds University in 1985 and went on to receive a PhD in Biochemistry from Surrey University. In 1989 he joined the Dept of Molecular and Cellular Immunology at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research as a postdoctoral fellow investigating mechanisms of B and T cell activation. Then in 1991, he moved to the BBSRC Institute for Animal Health to continue his research into molecular mechanisms regulating T cell activation and senescence. In 1998 he moved into industry and joined Novartis, where as a Lab Head in the Division of Immunology he led a team undertaking drug discovery research for respiratory disease. He returned to academia in 2008 following the award of a Royal Society Industry Fellowship and joined the staff at the National Heart and Lung Institute as a senior fellow within Imperial College London. Over the next 5 years he continued his research into the pathophysiology of respiratory disease, such as COPD where he identified a novel mechanism that may explain the onset of lung destruction in COPD as well as discovering and patenting a biomarker to aid diagnosis and help patient stratification with this disease.

Research Interest

His current research involves investigating the role of oxidative and carbonyl stress on cell function and immunity in chronic inflammatory diseases, such as COPD, and more recently in ageing. It utilises a multidisciplinary approach drawing on molecular, pharmacological and proteomic techniques, in order to translate clinical observations into mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Recent findings in his lab would suggest a possible role for a number of factors in disease pathogenesis as well as linkage to associated comorbidities with COPD. In collaboration with key opinion leaders in respiratory disease research from the UK, Europe and the USA he his translating his clinical findings into mechanistic models of COPD.