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Dr Dianne Cooper

Reader in Inflammation Biology

Centre: Biochemical Pharmacology

Email: d.cooper@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44(0) 20 7882 5643
Twitter: @DrDCoop

Profile

ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5553-9447

Dianne Cooper is a Reader in Inflammation Biology at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Dianne graduated from the University of Sheffield in 1995 with a BSc in Anatomy and Cell Biology and from the University of Bradford in 1997 with an MSc in Biomedical Sciences. She then completed a PhD at the University of Bradford with Prof. Anne Graham. In 2001 Dianne moved to Shreveport, Louisiana to complete a two-year post-doctoral post in the laboratory of Dr Neil Granger at LSUHSC. Dianne joined the Centre for Biochemical Pharmacology in 2003 and was awarded a Career Development Fellowship from Barts Charity in 2004, a Versus Arthritis Career Development Fellowship in 2007 and a Career Progression Fellowship in 2013. She obtained her lectureship in 2013 and her Senior Lectureship in 2018.

Current roles include Deputy Centre Lead for Biochemical Pharmacology and module lead for Drug Design for Pharmacologists for the Pharmacology and Innovative Therapeutics and Inflammation Therapeutics for the iBSc in Experimental Pharmacology.

Memberships and Awards

  • Editor British Journal of Pharmacology
  • BIRAs committee member
  • LVBF committee member 

Research

Group members
PhD students: Miss Rachael Wright, Miss Beatrice Gittens

Summary 

Role of galectins in inflammation
My research focuses on understanding the function of a family of carbohydrate binding proteins, known as galectins, during an inflammatory response. The focus is to understand how galectin expression within the vasculature is regulated during inflammation and how this altered expression regulates leukocyte trafficking in the microcirculation. To date my research has identified an inhibitory role for Galectin-1 in neutrophil and lymphocyte recruitment during acute inflammation. This research is now being expanded to include more complex models of inflammation in order to understand the function of galectins in pathologies such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Specific projects include:

  • Understanding the role of Galectin-1 in inflammatory arthritis. This project forms the basis of an Arthritis Research UK funded fellowship.
  • Role of Galectin-3 in leukocyte trafficking This project forms the basis of a British Heart Foundation funded PhD studentship and aims to address the role of Gal-3 in the trafficking of different leukocyte subsets during acute inflammation. 
  • Are galectins protective in osteoarthritis This project, in collaboration with Dr Tina Chowdhury, aims to address the role of galectins in osteoarthritis. 

Key Publications

Full list of publications

  1. Iqbal A*, Cooper D*, Vugler A, Moore A, Perretti M. Endogenous galectin-1 exerts tonic inhibition on experimental arthritis. Annals of Rheumatic Disease: under review. *share first authorship.
  2. Rhodes D, Pini M, Castellanos K, Montero-Melendez T, Cooper D, Perretti M, Fantuzzi G. Adipose tissue-specific modulation of galectin expression in lean and obese mice: evidence for regulatory functions. Obesity. In Press.
  3. Nadkarni S, Cooper D, Brancaleone V, Bena S, Perretti M. Activation of the annexin A1 pathway underlies the protective effects exerted by estrogen in polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2011 Nov;31(11):2749-59. PubMed PMID: 21836070; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3357483.
  4. Iqbal AJ, Sampaio AL, Maione F, Greco KV, Niki T, Hirashima M, Perretti M, Cooper D. Endogenous galectin-1 and acute inflammation: emerging notion of a galectin-9 pro-resolving effect. Am J Pathol. 2011 Mar;178(3):1201-9. PubMed PMID: 21356371; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3069826.
  5. Pederzoli-Ribeil M, Maione F, Cooper D, Al-Kashi A, Dalli J, Perretti M, D'Acquisto F. Design and characterization of a cleavage-resistant Annexin A1 mutant to control inflammation in the microvasculature. Blood. 2010 Nov18;116(20):4288-96. PubMed PMID: 20705760.
  6. Yazid S, Leoni G, Getting SJ, Cooper D, Solito E, Perretti M, Flower RJ. Antiallergic cromones inhibit neutrophil recruitment onto vascular endothelium via annexin-A1 mobilization. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2010 Sep;30(9):1718-24. PubMed PMID: 20558817.
  7. Spite M, Norling LV, Summers L, Yang R, Cooper D, Petasis NA, Flower RJ, Perretti M, Serhan CN. Resolvin D2 is a potent regulator of leukocytes and controls microbial sepsis. Nature. 2009 Oct 29;461(7268):1287-91. PubMed PMID:19865173; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2779525.
  8. Dalli J, Norling LV, Renshaw D, Cooper D, Leung KY, Perretti M. Annexin 1 mediates the rapid anti-inflammatory effects of neutrophil-derived microparticles. Blood. 2008 Sep 15;112(6):2512-9. Epub 2008 Jul 1. PubMed PMID:18594025.
  9. Cooper D, Norling LV, Perretti M. Novel insights into the inhibitory effects of Galectin-1 on neutrophil recruitment under flow. J Leukoc Biol. 2008 Jun;83(6):1459-66. PMID: 18372340.
  10. Norling LV, Sampaio AL, Cooper D, Perretti M. Inhibitory control of endothelial galectin-1 on in vitro and in vivo lymphocyte trafficking. FASEB J. 2008 Mar;22(3):682-90.: 17965266.

Sponsors

 

Collaborators

Internal
Prof Tim Warner (Blizzard); Prof Shu Ye (WHRI); Dr Robin Poston (WHRI); Dr Tina Chowdhury (SEMS); Dr Egle Solito (WHRI)

External
Prof Mitsuomi Hirashima (Kagawa University, Japan); Dr Toshiro Niki (GalPharma Inc., Japan)

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