Dr Paul Vulliamy receives Wellcome Trust Early Career Award
Congratulations to Dr Paul Vulliamy, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Trauma Sciences and Consultant Trauma Surgeon, who received a Wellcome Trust Early Career Award in August for his project titled The Role of Platelets in Trauma-Induced Organ Failure.
Funded by Wellcome
Organ failure occurs frequently after major trauma, but the cause is unknown and there are no specific treatments. The aim of the project is to decipher the mechanisms that link altered platelet activity to systemic inflammation and organ dysfunction after major trauma.
Funded by Wellcome, the project will attempt to define how platelets modulate the behaviour of innate leukocytes, and the consequences for systemic inflammation. It will also aim to understand the immunological properties of ballooning platelets, a highly activated subset previously identified in injured patients, and determine the role of megakaryocytes and immature platelets in the innate response to injury.
The Wellcome Trust Early Career Award scheme provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline who are ready to develop their research identity, and deliver shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. By the end of the award, they will be ready to lead their own independent research programme.
Dr Paul Vulliamy completed his PhD in 2019 at the Centre for Trauma Sciences at Queen Mary University of London, focusing on post-injury changes in platelet behaviour. Following this, he took up a postdoctoral research position as an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Trauma Sciences. After completing higher surgical training in general surgery and subspecialty training in trauma surgery, he was appointed to his current position where his time is split between clinical and academic duties.
His primary research focus is on the role of platelets in the pathophysiology of acute traumatic coagulopathy and post-injury organ dysfunction. He has a particular interest in the immunomodulatory roles of platelets, the mechanisms of damage sensing by platelets, and the behaviour of transfused platelets during major haemorrhage.