Charlotte Lawson
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Charlotte is a member of the Cardiovascular and Inflammation biology research group. Currently she is looking into leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions and adhesion molecule signalling.
Biography
After graduating from Wye College (University of London) with a BSc in Animal Science, Charlotte undertook an ARC funded research studentship at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, supervised by Yuti Chernajovsky and Marc Feldmann, and was awarded her PhD in 1997. From 1998-2003 Charlotte moved to a BHF funded post-doctoral position at Imperial College (Harefield Hospital) with Marlene Rose in the transplant immunology group.
In 2001 she was awarded a 3 year BHF Intermediate Fellowship to pursue independent research. Charlotte moved to the Royal Veterinary College in 2004 as a Lecturer and member of the Cardiovascular and Inflammation biology research group. Her current research interests include various aspects of leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions under static and hemodynamic conditions, including adhesion molecule signalling, autoantibody mediated cell activation, leukocyte activation mediated by uptake of dietary fats.
Charlotte is the Course Director for the Veterinary Gateway course and has a strong interest in widening participation of different groups of students in science and veterinary medicine. Charlotte is also module leader for a number of courses and her teaching is mainly in respiratory and cardiovascular physiology. She also supervises a number of undergraduate research projects.
Research
Since starting her post-doctoral position at Harefield Hospital Charlotte’s main research interest has focussed on interactions between leukocytes or leukocyte derived factors and the endothelium.
Current research areas include: (1) ICAM-1 mediated signal transduction in endothelial cells exposed to arterial flow rates, (2) Detection of autoantibodies in patient serum (anti-ICAM-1; anti-angiotensin receptors) and their role in inflammatory activation of endothelial cells exposed to arterial flow, (3) Activation of monocytes by dietary fats (chylomicron remnants), (4) Activation of monocytes and platelets and microparticle production during co-culture with endothelial cells at arterial flow rate and (5) Interactions between endothelial cells and Brugia Malayi microfilarial parasites.
Areas of expertise in the lab include culture of endothelial cells from different vascular beds/species, use of a parallel plate flow chamber, production and propagation of adenovirus and retrovirus and transfection of primary endothelial cells and cell lines.
Charlotte continues to collaborate with Prof. Marlene Rose at Imperial College and also has collaborations with Marion Macey and Magdi Yaqoob at the Royal London Hospital, Jeremy Pearson at KCL and Dorian Haskard at Imperial College. She also has several collaborations at the RVC, including Dr Caroline Wheeler-Jones, Prof. Kathy Botham, Dr Rachel Lawrence, Prof. Jonathan Elliott, Dr Harriet Syme, Dr Yoel Berhane and Mourad Tayebi.
Teaching
Charlotte is the Gateway course director and has a strong interest in widening participation to different groups of students in science and veterinary medicine. She is also module leader for the BSc Bioveterinary Science year 1 module “Problem Definition and Investigation”, the BSc Veterinary Nursing “Animal Science I and II” modules, and Deputy Strand Leader for the BVetMed “Cardiovascular and respiratory Physiology” strand.
Charlotte is the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology Unit leader for both BSc Bioveterinary Science and G&T courses. Her teaching is mainly in respiratory and cardiovascular physiology and she is a tutor for BVetMed and G&T students. She also participates in all aspects of examination of undergraduate students, and supervises a number of BSc Bioveterinary Science Year 2 & 3 research projects as well as summer studentships.
Selected Publications
Macey MG, Wolf SI, Wheeler-Jones CP, Lawson C. Expression of blood coagulation factors on monocytes after exposure to TNF-treated endothelium in a novel whole blood model of arterial flow. J Immunol Methods. 2009 350:133-41
HOLDER, A. L., WOLF, S., WALSHE, C., PANDYA, P., STANFORD, R. E., SMITH, J. D., ROSE, M. L. & LAWSON, C. (2008) Expression of endothelial intercellular adhesion molecule-1 is determined by genotype: effects on efficiency of leukocyte adhesion to human endothelial cells. Hum Immunol 69, 71-78. PubMed ID 18361930
BENTLEY, C., BEJTA, F., DE PASCALE, C., AVELLA, M., WHEELER-JONES, C. P., BOTHAM, K. M. & LAWSON, C. (2007) Dietary fats induce human monocyte activation in vitro. Biochem Soc Trans 35, 464-465. PubMed ID 17511628
OSBORNE, F. N., KALSI, K. K., LAWSON, C., LAVITRANO, M., YACOUB, M. H., ROSE, M. L. & SMOLENSKI, R. T. (2005) Expression of human ecto-5'-nucleotidase in pig endothelium increases adenosine production and protects from NK cell-mediated lysis. Am J Transplant 5, 1248-1255. PubMed ID 15888028
LAWSON, C., HOLDER, A. L., STANFORD, R. E., SMITH, J. & ROSE, M. L. (2005) Anti-intercellular adhesion molecule-1 antibodies in sera of heart transplant recipients: a role in endothelial cell activation. Transplantation 80, 264-271. PubMed ID 16041273
JOHANSSON, U., LAWSON, C., DABARE, M., SYNDERCOMBE-COURT, D., NEWLAND, A. C., HOWELLS, G. L. & MACEY, M. G. (2005) Human peripheral blood monocytes express protease receptor-2 and respond to receptor activation by production of IL-6, IL-8, and IL-1{beta}. J Leukoc Biol 78, 967-975. PubMed ID 16000389
TAY, S. S., MCCORMACK, A., LAWSON, C. & ROSE, M. L. (2003) IFN-gamma reverses the stop signal allowing migration of antigen-specific T cells into inflammatory sites. J Immunol 170, 3315-3322. PubMed ID 12626591
KALSI, K., LAWSON, C., DOMINGUEZ, M., TAYLOR, P., YACOUB, M. H. & SMOLENSKI, R. T. (2002) Regulation of ecto-5'-nucleotidase by TNF-alpha in human endothelial cells. Mol Cell Biochem 232, 113-119. PubMed ID 12030367
LAWSON, C., AINSWORTH, M. E., MCCORMACK, A. M., YACOUB, M. & ROSE, M. L. (2001) Effects of cross-linking ICAM-1 on the surface of human vascular smooth muscle cells: induction of VCAM-1 but no proliferation. Cardiovasc Res 50, 547-555. PubMed ID 11376630
SMITH, J. D., LAWSON, C., YACOUB, M. H. & ROSE, M. L. (2000) Activation of NF-kappa B in human endothelial cells induced by monoclonal and allospecific HLA antibodies. Int Immunol 12, 563-571. PubMed ID 10744658
LAWSON, C., MCCORMACK, A. M., MOYES, D., YUN, S., FABRE, J. W., YACOUB, M. & ROSE, M. L. (2000) An epithelial cell line that can stimulate alloproliferation of resting CD4+ T cells, but not after IFN-gamma stimulation. J Immunol 165, 734-742. PubMed ID 10878346
KALSI, K. K., LAWSON, C., MCCORMACK, A., KOCHAN, Z., YACOUB, M. H. & SMOLENSKI, R. T. (2000) TNF-alpha reduces the activity of ecto-5'-nucleotidase in human endothelial cells. Adv Exp Med Biol 486, 149-152. PubMed ID 11783473
LAWSON, C., AINSWORTH, M., YACOUB, M. & ROSE, M. (1999) Ligation of ICAM-1 on endothelial cells leads to expression of VCAM-1 via a nuclear factor-kappaB-independent mechanism. J Immunol 162, 2990-2996. PubMed ID 10072550