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Research Overview
Stephen has been interested in how adhesion molecules expressed by endothelial cells regulate angiogenesis for well over 20 years.
He is passionate about research and angiogenesis! The group he works with hope to guide the use and design of microbiota based therapies in order to maintain life-long vascular health.
After a self-confessed unconventional route to being a group leader, Stephen hopes that he brings unique and valuable experiences to their research.
My Story
“I was involved with early research investigating the role of integrins in angiogenesis. In the early days, we thought that one integrin in particular played a critical role in angiogenesis and that blocking it with drugs or antibodies would inhibit angiogenesis - that would be really useful in the context of trying to impede angiogenesis in cancers. To our surprise we saw an increased angiogenesis. This turned the field on its head and we are still trying to figure out exactly why this happens.
We are grateful for whatever funding comes our way, but it feels like there is never enough! We use the funding that we do get to understand more about the basic biological processes driving angiogenesis, and this helps us understand how normal blood vessels form, and what happens when it goes wrong."
Connecting Without Borders
Stephen hopes that the network will help to bring together different strands of researchers to make bigger advances.