Introduction

Research Groups

Select Research Group Head Prof. Sir Tom Blundell Prof. Kevin Brindle Dr Bill Broadhurst Dr Guy Brown Dr Mark Carrington Prof. Paul Dupree Prof. Gerard Evan - Head of Dept Prof. Richard Farndale Dr Giorgio Favrin Dr Jenny Gallop Dr Nick Gay Dr Andrew Grace Dr Jules Griffin Dr Brian Hendrich Dr Andrew Hesketh Dr Robin Hesketh Dr Matt Higgins Dr Florian Hollfelder Dr Hee-Jeon Hong Prof. Chris Howe Dr Marko Hyvonen Prof. Steve Jackson Dr Tony Jackson Prof. Richard Jackson Prof. Ernest Laue Prof. Peter Leadlay Dr Kathryn Lilley Dr Karen Lipkow Dr Rick Livesey Prof. Ben Luisi Dr Sarah Lummis Dr Juan Mata Dr John McCafferty Prof. Jim Metcalfe Dr Masanori Mishima Dr Eric Miska Dr Tom Monie Dr Helen Mott Dr Natasha Murzina Dr Daniel Nietlispach Dr Darerca Owen Prof. Steve Oliver Dr Luca Pellegrini Dr Markus Ralser Dr Nick Robinson Prof. George Salmond Dr Deirdre Scadden Dr José Silva Prof. Austin Smith Prof. Chris Smith Dr Nancy Standart Prof. Dame Jean Thomas Dr Aviva Tolkovsky Dr Martin Welch Dr Joyce Wong Dr Nianshu Zhang

Service & Research Support Facilities

Select by Subject or Manager DNA Sequencing Facility . . . . . Mr John Lester _______________________________ Quantitative Proteomics . . . . . Dr Kathryn Lilley _______________________________ Proteomics Core Services . . . . . Dr Mike Deery _______________________________ Protein & Nucleic Acid Chemistry . . . . . Dr Len Packman _______________________________ Metabolomics . . . . . Dr Jules Griffin _______________________________ Baculovirus Facility . . . . . Dr Darerca Owen _______________________________ Biophysics Facility . . . . . Dr Katherine Stott _______________________________ Crystallographic X-ray Facility . . . . . Dr Dima Chirgadze _______________________________ NMR spectroscopy . . . . . Dr Daniel Nietlispach _______________________________ Fermentation Facility . . . . . Dr Nianshu Zhang _______________________________ Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Services . . . . . Dr Jenny Barna _______________________________ Computer & IT Support . . . . . Dr Erik Timmers _______________________________

Past members last known active weblink

Select past member of Department Dr Stephen Bell Prof. Jonathan Blackburn Dr David Brown Dr Pak-Lee Chau Dr Hal Dixon (deceased) Dr Jessica Downs Prof. David Ellar Dr Paul Kemp Dr Simon Lovell Dr Kenji Mizuguchi Dr Massimo Paoli Prof. Richard Perham Dr Peter Reynolds Dr Philip Rubery Dr Gerry Smith Dr Margaret Sunde Prof. Jamie Vandenberg Dr Kira Weissman

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Collagen receptors: Integrins and Glycoprotein VI

Research Groupings: Cardiovascular science and medicine | Developmental and regenerative biology and medicine

The collagen receptors mediate the attachment of a wide variety of cells to connective tissues in diverse pathophysiological contexts. The major interest of the group is the interaction between blood vessel wall collagens and the platelet surface, a process which is fundamental to haemostasis and thrombosis. Adhesion requires integrin α2β1, whereas platelet activation involves mainly Glycoprotein VI, a receptor of the immunoglobulin family.

Platelets deposited from whole blood at arterial flow rate on collagen-coated surfaces.

Left is control, showing aggregates of platelets. Right is blood treated with anti-GpVI single chain antibody, showing prevention of aggregation, whilst primary adhesion is not impaired, (Siljander et al, 2004).

We synthesise triple-helical fragments of collagens which are selective for different collagen receptors, which allows us to study α2β1 and GpVI in isolation, and have recently located the binding site in collagen III for von Willebrand factor (VWF), completing the important adhesive motifs in collagen that recognise the platelet surface. Thus we are tackling the adhesive and signalling properties of GpIb along with the collagen receptors, processes measured under physiological shear conditions using the confocal microscopes recently installed in the lab.

We are applying our collagen peptide libraries (Toolkits) to a series of collagen-binding proteins, both from the matrix and the cell-surface, and we are making a set of collagen-mimetics for diagnostic purposes.

We collaborate with Prof Willem Ouwehand (Dept Haematology; GpVI and genetics of platelet function), with Dr Birgit Leitinger and Prof Erhard Hohenester (Imperial College; discoidin domain receptors) and with Prof Iain Campbell and Dr John Vakonakis (Oxford; fibronectin) and various other collagen- or platelet-related groups.

The group is funded by Medical Research Council and British Heart Foundation, with initial support (2003/5) for peptide synthesis from Wellcome Trust.

Current Lab members (July 2010)
Dominique Bihan, Samir Hamaia, Joanne-Marie Howes, Peter Kim, Nick Pugh, David Slatter, Rachael Stone.

References