Profile
MG is a founder member of the UK and Ireland Acute Lung Injury Research Group and Chair of the Intensive Care Society Guideline Development Group for the Management of ARDS. His clinical and research interests are in acute lung injury, alveolar epithelial cell responses to injury and ICU acquired weakness.
Memberships/Awards
International
- Visiting Professor: Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA 2017
- Faculty & Speaker, International Meetings: Toronto ARDS 2016
- 10th Int. Conference: Cachexia, Sarcopenia & Muscle Wasting, Rome 2017
National
Authorships & Editing
- Chair & lead author: ICS Management of ARDS guidelines 2018, presented ICS SOA meeting 2017, podcast 2018
- Thorax (impact factor 8.272) Associate Editor 2015-
- Over 20 book chapters (see below)
British Thoracic Society
- Council Member 2017- Research & Meetings Committee
Founder of the UK Acute Lung Injury Research Group
- 5 meetings including international speakers 2008-18
- first joint BTS/ICS session at ICS Winter Meeting 2011
- 4 university chairs
- 4 phase 3 trials HARP, BREATH, REST, BALTI prevention
Local
- Chair Critical Care Medicine at Imperial College 2015 & Queen Mary University London 2016
- Director of Research, St Barts Peri-Operative Medicine 2016
- NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI) Translational Research Partnerships in Inflammatory Respiratory Disease, Intensive Care Experimental Medicine Group, Barts Health Lead (2016-)
Research
Group members
- Aemun Salam Academic Clinical Fellow, Supervised with Adrian Hobbs.
- Ashley Thomas, Clinical Research Fellow, Supervised with Julie Sanders.
Summary
My research interest is the response of the lung and skeletal muscle to injury, particularly insults associated with critical illness, which compliments my role as an intensivist. I have used in vitro, ex vivo and human models, as well as clinical material from patients to:
- uncover the pathogenesis of ventilator-associated lung injury (VALI) with the aim of discovering novel targets for treatment, and biomarkers with prognostic and therapeutic significance
- investigate the complications of using extracorporeal devices, the purpose of which is to mitigate VALI
- discover epigenetic determinants of individual susceptibility to muscle wasting in intensive care unit-associated weakness (ICUAW)
- investigate in survivors of critical illness, how ICUAW influences their recovery of independence & quality of life
With the UK ECMO community, we initiated a landmark study demonstrating a survival benefit associated with the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in patients with influenza-associated ARDS. This body of research has helped to underpin the importance of VALI in the outcome of critical illness, has promoted the widespread use of protective ventilation strategies and has contributed to the increased use of extracorporeal devices to support patients with ARDS.
We have identified epigenetic determinants (microRNAs) of muscle wasting in acute & chronic disease. We are investigating the effectiveness of corresponding antagomirs in an animal model, as the first step towards translation into patients with ICUAW.
Sponsors
- *Pfizer unrestricted grant (2013-4) £133,962. Preclinical models of COPD
- * Imperial Confidence in Concepts – Biomedical Research Centre/ Innovations Primer Fund (2013-4) £50,087. Development of the haemolysis triple filter
- Wellcome Trust: CTF (2013 – 2015) £226,110. Integrin-associated proteins in VALI
- *NHLI Studentship (2014-17) £176,000 Role of Dishevelled activator of morphogenesis genes 1 & 2 in lung development and repair
- *NIHR pump prime (2014-5) £10,000 A triple filter device to protect against the adverse effects of haemolysis in stored blood
- *NIHR pump prime (2014-5) £14,500 Does the expression of imprinted micro RNAs in the muscle or plasma predict muscle wasting in intensive care unit acquired muscle weakness
- *NIHR HTA programme (2015-20) £2,125,511 PRotective vEntilation with veno-venouS lung assisT in respiratory failure: the REST Trial
- NIHR Doctoral Exchange Training Scheme (Royal Brompton Harefield & Southampton University Respiratory Biomedical Research Units (BRU: 2015) £4,956.48
- *NC3Rs Project Grant (2016-9) £497,719 Human Tissue Models for Lung Disease NC/P001041/1
- Barts Charity: CTF (2017 – 2020) £180,000. Molecular determinants of recovery from ICU acquired weakness and its effects on quality of life
- *MRC & GSK EMINENT: Project Grant (2016-9) £1,000,000. Stratified Interventions in ARDS
- *GSK: (2017-8) £188,477 Biomarkers of muscle wasting following cardiac surgery
- *Apollo Therapeutics (2017-18) £37,500 AntagomiRs of miR-542 and miR-424 as anti-atrophic agents; a pilot study.
* co-applicant, otherwise lead/PI
