Faculty academic appointed new Chair of the British Association for Lung Research
Dr Karl Staples, from Clinical & Experimental Sciences, has been elected as the Chair of the British Association for Lung Research (BALR) at its most recent AGM.
The BALR was founded to promote respiratory research throughout the UK and has a strong focus on the exchange of ideas between all manner of respiratory researchers, basic scientist and clinician alike, promoting collaboration to further fundamental pulmonary research as well as supporting Early Career Researchers.
The BALR is affiliated to the European Respiratory Society and has a long-standing partnership with the British Thoracic Society.
Dr Staples said: “I am honoured and humbled by this appointment. As the past year has shown us, lung research is hugely important, from COVID-19 through to air pollution and climate change. The next few years are going to be very important on so many levels and I am going to keep the BALR at the forefront of these respiratory research endeavours.”
Related Staff Member
Dr Karl J Staples BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA
Dr Karl Staples is an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine. His research focuses on host-pathogen interactions in chronic inflammatory airways diseases, such as asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and the contribution of these interactions to exacerbations of these respiratory conditions. To study these interactions he has developed novel ex vivo models of bacterial and viral (incl. influenza, COVID-19) infection using human lung cells and tissue. He is also the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre Respiratory & Critical Care Theme Training Lead and the Clinical & Experimental Sciences Doctoral Programme Lead.
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