Dr Andrew Walls PhD

Reader in Immunopharmacology

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Dr Andrew Walls is Reader in Immunopharmacology within Medicine at the University of Southampton.

 

Andrew Walls has long-standing research interests in the roles of mast cells and basophils in disease.  Pioneering studies by his group helped to establish the concept that the proteases of mast cells are key mediators of inflammatory disease and promising targets for therapeutic intervention.  The secreted proteases can be effective in cleaving various extracellular proteins, and can induce profound alterations in cell behaviour. 

Mast cell proteases and other proteinaceous constituents of mast cells and basophils are proving valuable as cell-specific markers, and tools developed by the group are now widely employed in research and diagnosis.  The application of sensitive assays for unique products of mast cells and basophils are advancing understanding of the functions of these cells in allergic and inflammatory conditions of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, joints and at other sites.  Of more immediate benefit they are aiding diagnosis of allergic reactions and mastocytosis, conditions for which there has long been a need for laboratory tests.

A range of approaches are being applied including those of immunology, pharmacology, pathology, molecular biology and genetics, and a network of collaborative links has been established with scientists and clinicians locally and across the world.  The studies have been reported in over 100 peer reviewed publications in addition to book chapters, reviews and in numerous presentations at national and international meetings. The research has informed approaches currently being developed for new therapies and diagnostic tests.   

Andrew Walls has been the principal investigator on grants worth over £5 million.  Awards have been received from research councils (Medical Research Council; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council), as well as from other public bodies in the UK and elsewhere (including National Institute for Health Research, Food Standards Agency and the Qatar National Research Fund).  Medical research charities that have supported the research include Asthma UK, Wellcome Trust, Arthritis Research UK, Sir Jules Thorne Charitable Trust, Lullaby Trust, Action Research, Thrasher Research Fund, and the Wessex Medical Trust. 

There has been a sustained track record of setting up contracts with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and laboratory supply industries.   International patents have been awarded, more than 20 license agreements concluded, and consultancy arrangements set up with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, USA and Japan.  He has served also as an expert witness in patent hearings and litigation in European and North American jurisdictions

Andrew Walls was appointed Reader in Immunopharmacology in 2001. Following graduation from the University of Aberdeen, he worked briefly in the Allergens Division of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, London, before completing his PhD in the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Cardiothoracic Institute, London.  He held a research fellowship at the University of York and became interested in mast cells before moving to the University of Southampton to pursue these interests.

Qualifications

BSc Hons Zoology, University of Aberdeen (1978)
PhD in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of London (1984)