Janet Mary Lord | |
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Alma mater | Oxford Brookes University Aston University |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Birmingham University of Oxford |
Thesis | The effect of oral-hypoglycaemic drugs and obesity on insulin receptor binding (1983) |
Janet Mary Lord CBE FMedSci is a British biologist who is a Professor of Immune Cell Biology at the University of Birmingham. Her research considers immunity in old age, with a focus on the decline of neutrophil function. She was made a Commander of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year Honours List.
Lord studied Human Biology at Oxford Brookes University, then moved to Aston University for her doctoral research, where she studied the impact of hypoglycaemic drugs and obesity on insulin receptor binding. [1] She joined the University of Oxford as a research fellow. [2]
Lord researches the effect of ageing on immune function, and how this impacts the ability of older people to resolve inflammation. [2] Her research has shown that exercise helps to slow the ageing process. [3] [4] She showed that older adults have neutrophils which aren't as effective (lower phagocytosis, chemotaxis and NET generation) and have high levels of cortisol. [4] Elevated levels of cortisol have a negative impact on ageing, including increasing muscle and bone loss and raising blood pressure. [4] [5] Lord showed that defects in neutrophil chemotaxis can also be corrected by statins. Lord joined the University of Birmingham early in her career, first as a Royal Society University Research Fellow and then professor in 2004. [2] [6]
Lord is Director of the Medical Research Council Versus Arthritis Centre for musculoskeletal ageing research. [7] The centre is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. [7] She was a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences Healthy Ageing Forum, [8] a group which looked to understand ageing research and priorities the most effective intervention. [9] [10]
Lord is part of the CARINA (CAtalyst Reducing ImmuNe Ageing) Network. [11] The network looks to understand the immune system throughout human life. [12]
The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinters, distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major subsystems of the immune system. The innate immune system provides a preconfigured response to broad groups of situations and stimuli. The adaptive immune system provides a tailored response to each stimulus by learning to recognize molecules it has previously encountered. Both use molecules and cells to perform their functions.
Sir Peter Brian Medawar was a British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants. For his scientific works, he is regarded as the "father of transplantation". He is remembered for his wit both in person and in popular writings. Richard Dawkins referred to him as "the wittiest of all scientific writers"; Stephen Jay Gould as "the cleverest man I have ever known".
Neutrophils are a type of phagocytic white blood cell and part of innate immunity. More specifically, they form the most abundant type of granulocytes and make up 40% to 70% of all white blood cells in humans. Their functions vary in different animals. They are also known as neutrocytes, heterophils or polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
Cortisol is a steroid hormone in the glucocorticoid class of hormones and a stress hormone. When used as medication, it is known as hydrocortisone.
Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. They were discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery. Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.
Granulocytes are cells in the innate immune system characterized by the presence of specific granules in their cytoplasm. Such granules distinguish them from the various agranulocytes. All myeloblastic granulocytes are polymorphonuclear, that is, they have varying shapes (morphology) of the nucleus ; and are referred to as polymorphonuclear leukocytes. In common terms, polymorphonuclear granulocyte refers specifically to "neutrophil granulocytes", the most abundant of the granulocytes; the other types have varying morphology. Granulocytes are produced via granulopoiesis in the bone marrow.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), also referred to as psychoendoneuroimmunology (PENI) or psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI), is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. It is a subfield of psychosomatic medicine. PNI takes an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating psychology, neuroscience, immunology, physiology, genetics, pharmacology, molecular biology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, infectious diseases, endocrinology, and rheumatology.
Sir David Keith Peters is a retired Welsh physician and academic. He was Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge from 1987 to 2005, where he was also head of the School of Clinical Medicine.
The formyl peptide receptors (FPR) belong to a class of G protein-coupled receptors involved in chemotaxis. In humans, there are three formyl peptide receptor isoforms, each encoded by a separate gene that are named FPR1, FPR2, and FPR3. These receptors were originally identified by their ability to bind N-formyl peptides such as N-formylmethionine produced by the degradation of either bacterial or host cells. Hence formyl peptide receptors are involved in mediating immune cell response to infection. These receptors may also act to suppress the immune system under certain conditions. The close phylogenetic relation of signaling in chemotaxis and olfaction was recently proved by detection formyl peptide receptor like proteins as a distinct family of vomeronasal organ chemosensors in mice.
Sir John Stewart Savill, FRS, FMedSci is the Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK and the Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and a Vice Principal of the University of Edinburgh.
The Lord Cohen Medal is a British medical award honouring individuals who "have made a considerable contribution to ageing research, either through original discoveries or in the promotion of the subject of gerontology in its broadest aspect". It is the highest award for services to gerontology in the United Kingdom and is named after British physician Henry Cohen.
Igor Petrovych Kaidashev is a Ukrainian immunologist and allergist, MD, and Professor. Igor Kaidashev is President of the Ukrainian Society of Immunology, Allergy and Immunorehabilitation, Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine No. 3 with Phthisiology, and Vice-Rector for Research & Development at Poltava State Medical University (PSMU) since 2010.
Max Dale Cooper, is an American immunologist and a professor at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Emory Vaccine Center of Emory University School of Medicine. He is known for characterizing T cells and B cells.
Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophagy, inflammasomes, sexually transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection, T cell immunity, commensal bacteria, COVID-19, and long COVID.
Sir Andrew James McMichael, is an immunologist, Professor of Molecular Medicine, and previously Director of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. He is particularly known for his work on T cell responses to viral infections such as influenza and HIV.
Anna Huttenlocher is an American cell biologist and physician-scientist known for her work in cell migration and wound healing.
Mary X. D. O’Riordan is an American molecular biologist who is the Frederick C. Neidhardt Collegiate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. She also serves as Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Michigan Medicine.
Deborah Kay Dunn-Walters is a British immunologist who is Professor of Immunology at the University of Surrey. Her research considers B-cell development in healthy ageing and in disease, particularly from the viewpoint of antibody repertoires. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dunn-Walters focussed on mapping responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of single cell analyses of the immunological responses to a COVID-19 vaccine. She was a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, and provided the government with scientific advice during the pandemic.
Roberto Paganelli is an Italian physician, clinical immunologist and academic. He formerly was a Professor of Internal Medicine at the D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara.
Iain Blair McInnes is a Scottish rheumatologist, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Muirhead Chair of Medicine and Versus Arthritis Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Glasgow. His research has focused on inflammatory diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.