About
I am a cell biologist and physiologist with an interest in how cells and tissues make the decisions that support homeostasis, phenotypic changes and adaptation in health and disease. I have interests in the primary cilium and how mechanical forces are integrated into cell and tissue signalling programs particularly in the musculoskeletal system. As such the group is active in areas of fundmental discovery science but also disease areas such as chondrodysplasia and osteoarthritis.
The lab uses a range of techniques including cell and molecular biology, multiscale imaging, the development of developmentally-inspired tissue engineering approaches, single cell and bulk RNA sequencing and in vivo models of development and disease.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- A core interest in the group is molecular, cellular, tissue and organ level mechanobiology. This is often studied through the lens of primary cilia biology. We are developing developmental engineering approaches to tissue biology which also help us to study the relevance of our discovery science in the realms of chondropathies e.g Osteoarthritis and chondrodysplasia. We have interests in matrix turnover in development and disease and maturation of matrices to support life-long health of tissues. Finally, we have a long-standing interest in the Intergration of mechanobiology and inflammation through the genes and proteins associated with primary cilia or ciliome.
Research projects
Active projects
Publications
Biography
Angus Wann did his PhD in Physiology at St George’s, University of London, where he investigated the mechanobiology of hyaluronan secretion with Professor JR Levick. He then went on to conduct postdoctoral research with Professor Martin Knight at Queen Mary, University of London studying the structure and function of primary cilia, describing roles for cilia in mechanotransduction and in inflammation.
In 2015 Angus was awarded a Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research / Arthritis Research UK Career development Fellowship and started his own laboratory at the Kennedy institute at the University of Oxford. The group described, in vivo, post-natal roles for the primary cilium in articular cartilage and osteoarthritis, novel roles for the cilium in the growth plate- coordinating how mechanical forces shape the adolescent limb and ciliary regulation of the clearance of extracellular proteases and NFkB signalling in vitro.
In 2023 the lab was awarded BBSRC funding and Angus moved to take up an Associate Professorship at the University of Southampton in the School of Biological Sciences. The lab continues to explore mechanobiology and fundamental roles for the primary cilium in cellular and tissue health and disease.