Dr Christina Warboys
Lecturer in Basic Sciences
Department: Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Campus: Camden
Research Groups: Cardiovascular and Renal Biology, CPCS (Research Programme)
Dr Christina Warboys is a Lecturer in Basic Sciences and a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Research Fellow. Her background is in Cardiovascular Biology with a particular interest in endothelial cell mechanobiology.
Dr Warboys joined the Royal Veterinary College in 2019 as Lecturer in Basic Sciences. Dr Warboys obtained a first class honours degree in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Leicester before completing a PhD in Vascular Physiology in the Cardiovascular Division at King’s College London. In 2006 she began her postdoctoral research career in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London followed by positions in the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College and Cardiovascular Division at King’s College London. In 2016 Dr Warboys was awarded a British Heart Foundation Intermediate (Basic Science) Research Fellowship to investigate the role of β-catenin in the regulation of mechanical signalling in the endothelium.
During her postdoctoral studies Dr Warboys supervised several MRes, MSc and PhD students and has been actively involved in the day-to-day running of research facilities and numerous departmental and early career researcher committees. She also has extensive teaching experience and before beginning her Research Fellowship worked as Teaching Fellow in Physiology within the Department of Bioscience Education at King’s College London.
Dr Warboys is an elected committee member of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research.
Dr Warboys is interested in the initiation and development of cardiovascular disease, in particular how mechanical forces (such as shear stress) control the spatial localisation of atherosclerosis, that specifically occurs in regions of disturbed shear stress. With the support of her BHF Fellowship, she is currently investigating the mechanical regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway in endothelial cells utilising an orbital shaker model to expose cells to disturbed (atherogenic) or undisturbed (atheroprotective) shear stress. Her particular focus is on how β-catenin mechanosignalling regulates inflammation and permeability.
She also has an on-going collaboration with Professor Albert Ferro at King’s College London to investigate shear-regulated apoptotic signalling.
Publications
Tajadura, V; Hansen, MH; Smith, J; Charles, H; Rickman, M; Farrell-Dillon, K; Claro, V; Warboys, C; Ferro, A
β-catenin promotes endothelial survival by regulating eNOS activity and flow-dependent anti-apoptotic gene expression
Cell Death & Disease, 11: 493 (2020).
Warboys CM, Ghim M, Weinberg PD. Understanding mechanobiology in cultured endothelium. A review of the orbital shaker method. Atherosclerosis 2019. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2019.04.210.
Warboys CM. Mechanoactivation of Wnt/ β-catenin pathways in health and disease. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences 2018; 2(5):701-712. Review. DOI: 10.1042/ETLS20180042
Abuammah A, Maimari N, Towhidi L, Frueh J, Chooi KY, Warboys CM, Krams R. New developments in mechanotransduction: Crosstalk of the Wnt, TGF-β and Notch signalling pathways in reaction to shear stress. Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering 2018; 5:96-104. Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobme.2018.03.003
Serbanovic-Canic J, De Luca A, Warboys CM, Hsiao S, Feng S, Luong L, Mahmoud M, Gauci I, Firmin D, Ferreira P, Walczak H, Ridger V, Krams R, Mason JC, Haskard DO, Sherwin S, Chico TJA, Evans PC. Zebrafish model for functional screening of flow-responsive genes. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2017; 37:130-143. DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.116.308502
Passacquale G, Phinikaridou A, Warboys CM, Alfieri A, Marcelo E. Andia ME, Botnar RM, Ferro A. Aspirin-induced histone acetylation in endothelial cells enhances synthesis of the secreted isoform of netrin-1 thus inhibiting monocyte vascular infiltration. British Journal of Pharmacology 2015; 172(14):3548-64. DOI: 10.1111/bph.13144
Warboys CM, Chen N, Zhang Q, Shaifta Y, Vanderslott V, Passacquale P, Hu Y, Xu Q, Ward JPT, Ferro A. Bidirectional cross-regulation between the eNOS and β-catenin signalling pathways. Cardiovascular Research 2014; 104(1): 116-126. DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvu173
Amini N, Malik T, Boyle JJ, Warboys CM, Zakkar M, Mason JC, Haskard D, Evans PC. Requirement of JNK1 for endothelial cell injury in atherogenesis. Atherosclerosis 2014; 235(2): 613-618. DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2014.05.950.
Warboys CM, de Luca A, Amini, N, Luong L, Duckles H, Hsiao S, White A, Biswas S, Khamis R, Chong CK, Cheung WM, Sherwin SJ, Bennet MR, Gil J, Mason JC, Haskard DO, Evans PC. Disturbed flow promotes endothelial senescence via a p53-dependent pathway. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2014; 34(5): 985-995. DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.114.303415.
Warboys CM, Overby DR, Weinberg PD. Dendritic cells lower the permeability of endothelial monolayers. Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering 2012; 5(2):184-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2010.08.040
Warboys CM, Amini N, de Luca A, Evans PC. The role of blood flow in determining the sites of atherosclerotic plaques. F1000 Medicine Reports 2011; 3:5-12. Review. DOI: 10.3410/M3-5
Potter CMF, Lundberg MH, Harrington LS, Warboys CM, Warner TD, Berson RE, Moshkov AV, Gorelik J, Weinberg PD, Mitchell JA. Role of shear stress in endothelial cell morphology and expression of cyclo-oxygenase isoforms. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2011; 31(2):384-91. DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.110.214031.
Warboys CM, Berson RE, Mann GE, Pearson JD, Weinberg PD. Acute and chronic exposure to shear stress have opposite effects on endothelial permeability to macromolecules. American Journal of Physiology (Heart Circ. Physiol.) 2010; 298:1850-1856. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00114.2010
Warboys CM, Fraser PA. Hyperglycaemia attenuates acute permeability response to AGEs in retinal microvasculature. Microvascular Research 2010; 80:174-176. DOI: 10.1016/j.mvr.2010.03.004
Warboys CM, Toh H-B, Fraser PA. Role of NADPH oxidase in retinal microvascular permeability increase by RAGE activation. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2009; 50(3):1319-28. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.08-2730
Conference Papers
Rickman M, Ghim M, Sureda Vives M, Rocha AC, Drudi E, Pang K, Weinberg PD, Warboys CM. Inflammatory activation of endothelial cells is regulated by Fzd4 and β-catenin via a non-canonical pathway. Presented at the European Vascular Biology Organisation Meeting, Maastricht, Netherlands, 2019 (Poster).
Rickman M, Sureda Vives M, Pang K, Ghim M, Weinberg PD, Warboys CM. Fzd4 and β-catenin promote inflammatory signallng in endothelial cells exposed to disturbed flow. Presented at the British Society for Cardiovascular Research Autumn Meeting, Sheffield, UK, 2018 (Poster).
Rickman M, Sureda Vives M, Rocha AC, Ayoub N, Pang K, Ghim M, Weinberg PD, Warboys CM. Wnt-Fzd-β-catenin regulates endothelial responses to flow. Presented at the World Congress in Biomechanics Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, 2018 (Podium).
CM Warboys, Rickman M, Rocha AC, Vives M. Inhibition of a non-canonical Wnt/Fzd/β-catenin pathway alters inflammatory activation in endothelial cells exposed to disturbed flow. Presented at the Frontiers in Cardiovascular Biology Meeting, Vienna, Austria, 2018 (Poster).
Warboys CM, Rickman M, Rocha AC, Ayoub N, Pang K, Ghim M, Weinberg PD. The role of Wnt-Fzd-β-catenin pathway in endothelial mechanosigalling. Presented at the 17th Imperial College Endothelial Meeting, 2017 (Podium).
V Tajadura, CM Warboys, A Ferro. β-catenin mediates the anti-apoptotic effects of NO in endothelial cells. Presented at the British Society for Cardiovascular Research Spring Meeting, Manchester, UK, 2017 (Poster).
CM Warboys, N Ayoub, K Pang, M Ghim, PD Weinberg. Inhibition of β-catenin-dependent transcription alters responses to disturbed flow in human aortic endothelial cells. Presented at the 12th International Symposium on Biomechanics in Vascular Biology and Cardiovascular Disease, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2017 (Podium)
KT Pang, CW Fhu, CM Warboys, M Ghim, X Wang, PD Weinberg. Could LRG1 be a novel regulator of shear stress-induced endothelial activation. Presented at the12th International Symposium on Biomechanics in Vascular Biology and Cardiovascular Disease, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2017 (Poster).
CM Warboys, M. Ghim, M. Arshad, K. Pang, PD Weinberg. Inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signalling alters responses to multidirectional flow in endothelial cells. Presented at the British Atherosclerosis Society Meeting, Cambridge UK, 2016 (Poster).