skip to content

Department of Pathology

 

Patients who are admitted to intensive care are at high risk of complications from infection, both as the presenting pathology and developing as complications during their admission.  Pneumonia, a severe infection of the alveolar airspace, is both the commonest infective reason for admission and the commonest secondary infection acquired in the ICU.

 

Dr Conway Morris has demonstrated that patients in intensive care have impaired immune function, and has identified several defects in neutrophil anti-microbial functions.  These dysfunctions occur before patients develop secondary infections, and predict the risk of acquiring one.  This holds the promise of being able to prevent secondary infections by targeting immune dysfunction in at-risk patients.

 

One of the predominant drivers of this dysfunction  is the pro-inflammatory molecule C5a, a component of the complement cascade which is released in high concentrations in critically ill patients.  Dr Conway Morris demonstrated how C5a can drive impaired phagocytosis via phosphoinositide-3-kinase delta, and that this defect can be reversed using granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, which has led to a recent phase II clinical trial.  Using a phosphoproteomic technique developed in his lab, he has recently identified further defects in phagosomal maturation induced by C5a.  His current work focuses on understanding the signalling pathways which are activated when the neutrophil encounters a bacterial pathogen, how these are influenced by the inflammatory environment the cells are in and how this impairs antimicrobial responses.

 


Pneumonia
Neutrophil Biology
Host-pathogen interactions
Intensive Care
Sepsis
Molecular Diagnostics in Infections

Research Interests

Neutrophil biology

Host-microbe interactions

Critical illness and Sepsis

Pneumonia

MRC Clinician Scientist
Honorary Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine
Available for consultancy

Affiliations