British Inflammation
Research Association
Dr Peter Bunyard
President
Peter obtained his PhD in Immunology in 2002 from University College London and after post-doctoral research at Nottingham University has worked in auto-immune and fibrosis drug discovery. Peter’s career has progressed through a number of biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Celltech-UCB, GSK and Takeda and Redx and Sitryx. Peter is currently CSO at Stellaris Therapeutics.
Dr Dianne Cooper
Secretary
Dianne is a lecturer at the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University of London. Dianne obtained her PhD from the University of Bradford and went on to do post-doctoral research at Louisiana State University before joining QMUL. Her research interests focus on understanding the function of galectins, a family of carbohydrate binding proteins, in the process of inflammation and its resolution. .
Professor Paul
Kirkham
Treasurer
Paul is Professor of cell biology at the University of Wolverhampton. His main research interests focus on understanding the role of oxidative stress and its impact on chronic inflammation and immunity in respiratory diseases such as COPD. He originally trained as a biochemist before gaining experience as a molecular immunologist.
Dr Asif Iqbal
Committee
Asif is a Birmingham Fellow in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham. Asif qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Surrey in 2006 and a PhD at the William Harvey Research Institute, QMUL.
Asif has been studying the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease and other chronic inflammatory pathologies
Dr Ezra Aksoy
Committee
Ezra is a Lecturer in immunology and pharmacology at the William Harvey Research Institute in Queen Mary, University of London. Ezra obtained her BSc (Hons) in Microbiology from Kansas State University. Ezra has been studying investigating the role of phosphatidylinositol lipids and their key enzymes, PI3Ks in vesicular trafficking processes following activation of innate immune receptors.
Gareth Davies
Committee
Gareth Davies is a translational pharmacology and drug discovery scientist with nearly 20 years of experience across oncology, immunology, fibrosis, and inflammatory disease research within both biotech and large pharmaceutical organisations. He has expertise in in-vivo pharmacology, translational PK/PD strategy, biomarker integration, and candidate-enabling drug discovery, with experience spanning target identification through to translational support into clinical development. Gareth currently works at Sitryx Therapeutics as Associate Director / Research Leader in In-Vivo Pharmacology and has contributed to multiple multidisciplinary discovery programmes in oncology and immunology.
Professor Paul Winyard
Committee
Paul Winyard is Emeritus Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Exeter Medical School, and a Co-founder/Director of the University spin-out company, Watercress Research Limited. Before moving his laboratory to Exeter in 2002, he was Professor of Experimental Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a Visiting Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (2000-2001).
Professor Winyard's internationally leading research into the redox regulation of the inflammatory response is relevant to many different human diseases - spanning from rheumatoid arthritis to dermatitis, and from cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer's disease. He has published well over 300 original research papers and reviews, many of which are highly cited in the literature. Over the last decade, he has developed a particular interest in human skin-related anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects of phytochemicals in watercress.
Dr Daniele Corridoni
Committee
Daniele Corridoni earned his Ph.D. in Internal Medicine and Immunology (University of L'Aquila, Italy / Case Western Reserve University, US), followed by a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University focusing on mucosal immunology and innate immune mechanisms in intestinal inflammation. After six years in the US, he moved to the UK to join the MRC Human Immunology Division at the University of Oxford, first as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and then as a Senior Research Fellow. During this period, he applied systems immunology and functional validation approaches, leading to the characterisation of novel colonic T cell subpopulations in health and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
While still affiliated with the University of Oxford, he transitioned to Kymab, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, as a Group Leader in Immunology. Following Kymab's acquisition by Sanofi, he joined Sanofi as Head of Translational Biology. Subsequently, Daniele joined AstraZeneca as Director of Bioscience Immunology, establishing a new group at the AstraZeneca Cambridge R&D site. In this role, he and his team are focused on advancing next-generation therapeutics for patients with autoinflammatory diseases, while fostering collaborations with industry partners and academic institutions across the field of Immunology.
Dr Emily Offer
Associate
Emily is Head of Cellular Sciences at the Medicines Discovery Catapult on Alderley Park working in the area of inflammatory disease, fibrosis and neuroinflammation. She obtained her BMedSc at the University of Birmingham and PhD in respiratory inflammation from the University of Sheffield.
Professor Ian Adcock
Associate
Ian is Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology at Imperial College, London. His main interests lie in the effects of glucocorticoids on airway inflammation in patients with severe asthma and COPD patients.
Dr Graham Wallace
Associate
Graham is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing. Graham has published over 100 research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews in the fields of ocular immunology, Behcet’s Disease and immunogenetics. .