Copy
🎃NHLI Newsletter 10-2019
Imperial College London
National Heart & Lung Institute
 

NEWSLETTER                      OCTOBER  2019

Letter from the Head of the Institute
Two years ago, the NHLI was externally reviewed.  Both panels (one looking at our Cardiovascular Sciences, chaired by Professor Hugh Watkins, and one focused on Respiratory Science, that I chaired) thought that the collaborations between NHLI and other parts of Imperial could be stronger.  These comments seem to have stirred up some action and of the 20 cross Faculty ‘Centres of Excellence’ and 24 ‘Imperial College Networks’ that exist, NHLI staff have a leading role in a large number.  We have also started to work through how we might have more ‘shared’ appointments across Departments, with Professor Marc Dumas being an excellent recent example. 

These Centres and Networks serve a vital role in connecting people across the College and stimulating new scientific opportunity.  Further ‘Centre’ applications are in progress, including a bid led by Professor Eric Alton and Professor Uta Griesenbach on Advanced Therapeutic and Medicinal Products (ATMPs) and Professor Justin Mason on Vasculitis, which I hope will be irresistible to the College.  At a place like Imperial with world-leading Engineering and Material Sciences, Data and Computer Sciences, and Molecular Sciences, the challenge should be that every PI and research group within the Department has such a collaboration and that our grant submissions (without exception?) reflect this wonderful opportunity we have on our doorstep.  Some of you will be aware that Professor Frank Kelly will be moving to Imperial from KCL; Frank brings a wealth of expertise in air pollution science and policy and is a very significant appointment with many connections to the NHLI.  My encouragement would be that if you don’t have such collaborations, start thinking how these might be developed.
 
Finally, can I add my congratulations to Professor Peter Barnes on his recent ‘elevation’ to become the world’s 4th most highly cited scientist; this is a quite remarkable achievement, Professor Ian Adcock on receiving the ERS Gold Medal for his research into the mechanisms underlying COPD, Dr Balvinder Handa a graduate student working with Dr Fu Siong Ng for winning the Young Investigators Prize at this year’s Heart Rhythm Congress in Birmingham, to Professors Clare Lloyd and Jadwiga Wedzicha for organising an outstanding joint Respiratory Sceince meeting with Weill-Cornell University in October, and (in case you missed the earlier announcement) Ms Joanna O’Brien on being appointed as our new Departmental Manager.  I also wish to extend my thanks to Helen Johnson (NHLI Communications) for all the work she has undertaken to re-construct the Department’s Research Webpages; if it works for you, please tell us, if it doesn’t in any way, we also need to hear.

Warmest regards,
 
Professor Edwin Chilvers
Head of Institute.
FOCUS ON ...

Meet Professor Darrel Francis: new Head of Section with NHLI

Professor Darrel Francis has taken over from Professor Peter Sever as the head of the Cardiovascular Trials and Epidemiology Section in NHLI.
 
Professor Darrel Francis joined Imperial for his thesis which developed mathematical techniques to analyse phenomena in cardiac dynamics and cardiorespiratory interaction, where purely qualitative approaches may be misleading or confusing. Darrel is now Professor of Cardiology at the NHLI specialising in applying quantitative techniques, derived from mathematics, engineering and statistics, to problems that affect patients with heart disease.

Looking ahead to Darrel’s leadership Professor Peter Sever commented “I am delighted to hand over the section lead to Darrel, whose unbridled enthusiasm, talent and aspirations will, without doubt, take us to a new level of achievement in these highly competitive times”. 

Find out more about Professor Francis and what is on the horizon for the section.
RESEARCH NEWS
Publication highlights
EVENTS
AWARDS
NOTICES

IS YOUR PWP UP TO DATE? PHOTOSHOOT DATES AVAILABLE

All members of staff and postgraduate students with NHLI should have their personal webpage, or PWP, active and completed. It is a great way for people to find you and your research - a full guide is available on the College webpages including examples of good pages.

If you would like a new photo taken sign up for one of the upcoming College photoshoots.
 

MANDATORY GDPR TRAINING

We would remind everybody that the information governance course (for GDPR) is mandatory. That is, all staff are expected to complete it. The potential penalties for Imperial College London if we get this wrong are enormous. Completion of  this mandatory course is now being recorded.

All staff and students are expected to do the course. The majority of people handle personally identifiable data of some sort.

Because the NHS data protection and College data protection courses are not yet cross-validated, clinical staff are still expected to do both. From personal experience, completing one of these courses makes the other very fast and easy to do.

There is now an NHLI-specific link that should make course access far simpler than before, and the link should take you straight there (with one login).

Any problems, please contact Dr Joseph J Boyle at joseph.boyle@imperial.ac.uk.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT GRANT SUBMISSIONS

NHLI wishes to ensure that with major grants we do not have a situation where we are competing against ourselves with multiple applications at the same meeting.  This would include programmes grants to any funder, Wellcome Investigator Awards, Wellcome Collaborative Awards, any strategic proposals such as Centre and Initiatives and proposals which require matched support or have limited submission.

Therefore going forwards all applicants should inform their Division Heads and Alun Owen of any major grants to be submitted well in advance of the deadline so that proposals can be managed and supported appropriately.
 
While this may result in a slight delay, proposals will benefit from full review and freedom from any competing applications.
 
Please contact Alun Owen at a.owen@imperial.ac.uk if you wish to discuss any application.

IMPERIAL LATES: get involved!

On Tuesday 12 November Ryan Thwaites and James Harker will be contributing to the Imperial Lates public engagement event on the theme “Infectious”. Their exhibition will explore the immune response to influenza infection through the medium of origami, by constructing paper cells, viruses and antibodies.

The exhibition aims to engage the public with the concepts underpinning vaccines, herd immunity, the beautiful complexity of the immune response and why respiratory viruses are particularly harmful to some populations.

If anyone is interested in helping to support the event then please contact Ryan (r.thwaites@imperial.ac.uk) or James (j.harker@imperial.ac.uk). Full training (including origami expertise!) will be given, along with briefing of the science we aim to discuss with the public.
 

CLINICAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS: 2020 INTAKE
 

Imperial is keen to attract and cultivate the most promising clinical academic researchers at all stages of their careers. Available to start during 2020 we have up to 7 funded PhD programme fellowships for clinicians. Applications are invited from exceptional medical graduates who demonstrate a commitment to a research career and aspire to become the next generation of clinical academic leaders to join our prestigious PhD Fellowship Programmes.  Successful candidates will be selected on the basis of academic potential to reach the highest standards of scientific research, regardless of clinical specialty.

Opportunities are available through a number of funding streams including; our Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD 4i programme, the Lee Family Faculty of Medicine Scholarship (LFFMS) and the British Heart Foundation AI in cardiovascular science PhD scheme.

The Fellowships will be full-time and fixed term for three years. The funding covers clinical salary, PhD registration fees at the UK/EU rate, College fees, associated project costs and general training costs. Applicants must be fully qualified medical doctors in training in the UK and at Core Training level or above (or in GP Training), in any specialty. GP Trainees may apply if within 12 months of having CCT.
 
Visit the Imperial College CATO website for eligibility and further details about the programme. 
 

The closing date is 1 December 2019.

SOCIETAL ENGAGEMENT SEED FUND
 

Imperial's Societal Engagement Seed Fund has been introduced to encourage and enable Imperial staff to engage the wider public with our research and education. The Seed fund will support Imperial staff to engage school, patient, community and/or public audiences through new initiatives, activities and collaborations. Up to £15000 will be awarded in 2019/20. Applicants can request funding in the range of £300-£2000. 

Read about our 2018 Seed Fund recipients for inspiration, or find out more about how to apply. 
 

The application deadline is Friday 22 November 2019.

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL FOR THE GREAT EXHIBITION FESTIVAL 2020
 

Now the Festival has been confirmed as an annual tradition in this part of the capital, Imperial’s Festival organising team are seeking proposals for 2020. Staff and students are encouraged to submit ideas for research demonstrations, talks, workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, music and dance performances, and any other contribution that might entertain and inspire the public.
 
For further details on the sort of contributions Imperial staff and students can make to the Festival, and specific requests for the type of content we would like to see more of in 2020, please download our Guidance document for the 2020 Great Exhibition Road Festival proposals process.
 
The deadline for proposals to be submitted is 12 Noon, Tuesday 26 November 2019.
 
MORE NEWS
The BSc in Translational Respiratory Medicine (TMR) programme includes various opportunities for students to answer questions, which culminated in an ‘End-of-Block 1 Quiz’ this month, with the Blue Team emerging victorious! Congratulations to the Blue Team for winning this match, but the ‘Test Series’ will rage on for two more blocks …
 
These quizzes are part of the new BSc Learning and Teaching Strategy which is now in full effect. The students appear to be thoroughly enjoying and engaging with the new and exciting programme structure.
'Pulmonary Hypertension Bake-Off'

Alex Ainscough has organised an informal 'pulmonary hypertension bake-off' with around a dozen people in the groups researching pulmonary hypertension in the Vascular Science Section of NHLI. Each week 'contestants' bring in a home-baked good for all participants to taste and score on 5 factors! Week 3's entry from Mai Alzaydi, another PhD candidate in Beata's group, blew the competition out of the water with her pumpkin cake!
 



Imperial College London BHF Centre of Research Excellence newsletter.

Catch up with the latest news from the Centre.
For further news visit the Reporter or Imperial News
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Dyslexia Awareness Week was the 7th to 13th October and the Department were involved in several initiatives to help to raise awareness and offer support to staff and students with dyslexia.  This included Professor Sara Rankin, in her role as Dyslexia Champion, participating in a coffee morning and afternoon tea in the Senior Common Room, a lunch and learn workshop on neurodiversity for staff in the IT Department and an inclusive learning for neurodiverse students’ workshop.
 
October is also Black History Month and Professor Sara Rankin was involved in organising a 2 day engineering workshop for BAME pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds as part of the Creative futures project with funding provided by RAE Ingenious Award.

One the 21st October the PTO Working Group organised an Away Afternoon for PTO staff in the Department to discuss career development and institutional culture. The event was attended by 22 PTO staff and was very successful.
  • If you have any ideas on what you would like to see included in the next PTO Away Day please contact Alex Dawes alexandra.dawes@imperial.ac.uk with any suggestions.

On 7th November 10.30-12.00 we are organising a networking and Q&A Panel session at South Kensington featuring Professor Saglani, Professor Davies and Dr Hogg for female clinicians. This event has been organised by clinicians in the Respiratory Division but clinical staff and students form Cardiovascular and cardio-respiratory are also more than welcome to attend.
  • To register for a place please contact Alex Dawes.
     
From November we will be working with the Learning and Development Centre to organise a series of focus groups to look in more detail at some of the results from the February staff survey. These will take place at Hammersmith and South Kensington and will be organised by job family and level. Please look out for an invite to these soon.
 
Also from November we will be organising sessions for Active Bystander and Bullying and Harassment (the Manager’s Perspective) training at each campus for staff who have not yet enrolled on these courses. More information will be available soon on dates and locations.
PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS
Selected research publications from across NHLI 

Maher TM, Corte TJ, Fischer A, Kreuter M, Lederer DJ, Molina-Molina M, Axmann J, Kirchgaessler K-U, Samara K, Gilberg F, Cottin V (2019) Pirfenidone in patients with unclassifiable progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 27 September 2019. http://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30341-8 
 
Simpson A, Brough HA, Haider S, Belgrave D, Murray CS, Custovic A (2019) Early-life inhalant allergen exposure, filaggrin genotype and the development of sensitization from infancy to adolescence. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 17 October 2019. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2019.08.041
 
Holguin F, Cardet JC, Chung KF, Diver S, Ferreira DS, Fitzpatrick A, Gaga M, Kellermeyer L, Khurana S, Knight S, McDonald VM, Morgan RL, Ortega VE, Rigau D, Subbarao P, Tonia T, Adcock IM, Bleecker ER, Brightling C, Boulet L-P, Cabana M, Castro M, Chanez P, Custovic A, Djukanovic R, Frey U, Frankemolle B, Gibson P, Hamerlijnck D, Jarjour N, Konno S, Shen H, Vitary C, Bush A (2019) Management of Severe Asthma: a European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society Guideline. European Respiratory Journal, 26 September 2019. http://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00588-2019
 
Belchamber KBR, Singh R, Batista CM, Whyte MK, Dockrell DH, Kilty I, Robinson MJ, Wedzicha JA, Barnes PJ, Donnelly LE, COPD-MAP consortium (2019) Defective bacterial phagocytosis is associated with dysfunctional mitochondria in COPD macrophages. European Respiratory Journal, 10 October 2019. http://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02244-2018
 
Kirseborn FCM, Kausar F, Nuriev R, Makris S, Johansson C (2019) Neutrophil recruitment and activation are differentially dependent on MyD88/TRIF and MAVS signaling during RSV infection. Muscosal Immunology 12(5):1244-1255. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41385-019-0190-0
 
Lok LSC, Dennison TW, Mahbubani KM, Saeb-Parsy K, Chilvers ER, Clatworthy MR (2019) Phenotypically distinct neutrophils patrol uninfected human and mouse lymph nodes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116(38):19083-19089. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1905054116
 
EVENTS 

Imperial Postgraduate Connections Event
 

13:00-16:00 on Wednesday 6 November

Lecture Theatre G16, SAF, South Kensington Campus

This session is aimed at masters’ and final year undergraduate students. Senior members of Faculty and other parts of College will be providing you with a wealth of advice and tips for any future applications.

To attend please sign up.

Q&A Panel session for female clinicians


10:00 - 12:00 on Thursday 7 November

Room 119, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington.
 

Our speakers are:

To register a place, or if you have any queries, please contact Alex Dawes.
MRC annual visit


12:00 - 13:00 on Friday 8 November 2019

Lecture Theatre 1, Wolfson Conference Centre, Hammersmith Campus

The MRC Chief of Strategy, Declan Mulkeen, will address Imperial College staff regarding MRC strategy and opportunities.

Register on Eventbrite.

 

NHLI Careers Information Session
 

16:00 - 16:45 on Thursday 21 November

Paul Wood Lecture Theatre, Guy Scadding Building

On the same day as the Student Social, we will be hosting a careers session which will be delivered by Victoria Sood from Imperial Careers. This is aimed at PGT students and will cover topics including PhD options, as well as alternative careers.

Please do attend, and then join us at the Social afterwards!

NHLI Student Social


17:00 - 18:00 on Thursday 21 November (quiz starts at 17:30)

Metric Student Union Bar, (Beit Quadrangle, Prince Consort Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2BB)

This is a great way to meet fellow Imperial students from all our different courses and take part in a pub quiz (with prizes to be won). Free drinks vouchers will be available for those who have signed up!
 
Sign up using your Imperial email address via our Eventbrite page.

Early Career Development and Collaboration Meeting - BSGCT

Friday 29 November

The Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
 

Free event for early career researchers and a great opportunity to build a network with members of the gene and cell therapy community. Featuring advice about pursuing a career in industry and academia, grant/CV writing and fellowship applications. 


PhD students, Postdocs and early career PIs can register here to secure a place.

Workshop: How to Prepare and Assess Living Myocardial Slices 


2 - 3 December 2019

Hammersmith Campus London

The workshop will provide the participants with all the necessary knowledge and practical skills to implement this technique in their own laboratories.


Find out more and book.

Upcoming Imperial Lates

  • Infectious - 12 November - featuring the CF research team and Medical Detection Dogs!
  • Winter Wonderlab – 5 December
  • Future Commuter – 13 February
  • Beautiful data – 12 March


Find out more and register to attend Imperial Lates
Details of all Regular Meetings
For all upcoming NHLI events check the website

Upcoming Imperial events
 
TWITTER UPDATE 

Tweets from the @ImperialNHLI account have earned 56,000 impressions in the last 28 days. Our top tweet with 8,310 impressions and 715 engagements was about Professor Darrel Francis' appointment as Head of Section.
 
WE'RE PLEASED TO WELCOME THIS MONTH...
Welcome to Beverley Burchill who has started at the NHLI as the Gene Therapy Consortium administrator. Beverley will be based in the Gene Therapy group led by Eric Alton and Uta Griesenbach.
 
Sara Buttery is an experienced research physiotherapist who is working on the NIHR funded CELEB trial where patients with severe emphysema are randomised to lung volume reduction surgery or endobronchial valve placement and will also be looking at the impact of this and other interventions on physical activity in people with COPD as part of the H2020 MOBILISE-D project. She is embarking on a PhD and will be based in the Respiratory Muscle Lab on the Royal Brompton Campus.
 
I would like to welcome Dr Katerina Koutsantoni to the NHLI. Katerina is our new Education Manager taking over from Rebecca Smith. Katerina joins us from the London Business School where she was Senior Manager: MBA Programme Management and Development, has ten years of experience in programme management in HE and twenty-five years’ experience overall in education.

Welcome and congrats to Dr Laura Nolan, who was awarded one of the Imperial College Research Fellowships and has just started at NHLI working on Pseudomonas infection and cystic fibrosis with Jane Davies in the Respiratory Infections team.
AWARDS & APPOINTMENTS
Hannah Whittaker and Pauline Flajolet were awarded an NHLI Foundation travel award to attend the ERS International Congress in Madrid.

Pauline comments "This congress was exactly what I needed to acquire a global view of how asthma is encountered by clinicians, thus better understanding the implications of my preclinical work."

Hannanh notes "The conference provided an opportunity for me to explore and better understand my work through discussions and sessions with leaders in the field."

Read their full reports on attending the conference 

Apply for your own travel award

Jess Walsh receiving the ERS Best Abstract Grant in Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Chronic Care 2019.

Dr Justin Garner won a poster award at the ERS for his work entitled ‘A Prospective Safety and Feasibility Study of Metered CryoSpray (MCS) for Patients with Chronic Bronchitis in COPD’. He was awarded best abstract in the Interventional Pulmonology category.

Dr Karthi Srikanthan won a best poster award at ERS.
Professor Ian Adcock has received the 2019 Gold Medal in COPD from the ERS. Read more about Professor Adcock's research and the award.
Dr Omar Usmani and Professor Pallav Shah have been appointed as a Fellow of the ERS. The Fellow of ERS award recognises excellence in contributions to research, education and clinical leadership in respiratory medicine from amongst the ERS membership. The award brings together members who have excelled in their field to form an elite advisory board that will be called upon by the Society on various matters in future years.


Dr Andrew Ritchie was part of the winning team - 'Thoracic Park' - at the ERS respiratory championships. The team was composed of researchers from of Imperial, Belfast and Sheffield.

Four teams with three members competed in the latest review of the major fields of respiratory medicine
Dr Kirk Taylor was elected onto The Platelet Society committee as an Early Career Member for a 2 year term. He has also been supported by the BHF's small meeting fund to support a meeting he is co-chairing. This will be the 2nd Platelet Society Early Career Researcher Meeting, to be held at QMUL on 23rd April 2020.
Dr Balvinder Handa won the Young Investigators Prize at the BritishnHeart Rhythm Congress. He presented his work on the role of gap junction coupling in myocardial fibrillation. Balvinder gave a talk titled "Gap Junction Modulation Is A Major Determinant Of The Mechanism And Organisation Of Ventricular Fibrillation And A Potential Therapeutic Target" judged by an expert panel of four clinician scientists from across the UK.
@ImperialNHLI
@ImperialNHLI
NHLI Blog
NHLI Blog
NHLI
NHLI
Medicine Blog
Medicine Blog
The NHLI Newsletter will normally be circulated to all of NHLI at the end each month apart from a summer and Christmas break. We welcome your contributions and request that any information you wish to include is provided 5 days before the distribution date. If you have any comments, suggestions or other information, please contact Helen Johnson. 
 
This newsletter is sent to all members of NHLI (based on the latest HR data) please get in touch if you have left and no longer wish to receive it.
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Copyright © 2015 National Heart & Lung Institute, All rights reserved.

My email address is:
helen.johnson@imperial.ac.uk

 






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
National Heart & Lung Institute · Imperial College London · London, Lnd SW7 2AZ · United Kingdom

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp