Dr Heather L Wilson

BSc, DPhil, FHEA

School of Medicine and Population Health

Senior Lecturer in Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease

Phase 3a SSC Lead, MBChB

h.l.wilson@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 215 9560

Full contact details

Dr Heather L Wilson
School of Medicine and Population Health
Room K100, K Floor
Royal Hallamshire Hospital
Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2JF
Profile

For enquiries, please contact - SMPH-West-Operational@sheffield.ac.uk

My research interests are focused on the areas of dysfunctional inflammation and immunity in disease and ageing. I am interested in the changes in immune cell macrophages within the arterial plaque environment associated with increased susceptibility to acute cardiovascular disease events (heart attack and stroke). We also aim to identify how macrophage function declines with age, and how some cell functions are over-activated in autoimmune inflammatory diseases.

I have a background in Pharmacology (BSc, UCL) a PhD in cell signalling (DPhil, Oxford) and experience as post-doc and fellow working in immune cell biology. I have published in Immunity, EMBO J, Science Advances, Nature Communications, PNAS, Cardiovascular Research, Journal of Immunology amongst other journals. I have been awarded funding from UKRI (BBSRC, MRC, RCUK), Horizons 2022 EU, British Heart Foundation, Chernajovsky Foundation, Vivensa Foundation and others.

I teach students undertaking BSc, MBChB, MSc, MRes and PhD courses in the areas of Cardiovascular Medicine and Cell Biology. I am academic lead for the 6-week Student Selected Component (SSC) in Phase 3a of the MBChB medical programme. I am module deputy for Social Aspects in the MSc in Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, and teach on cardiovascular disease in undergraduate courses. I run Education for Sustainable Development workshops on several teaching programmes in the School of Medicine and Population Health.

I am a unit and departmental lead for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) to support unit and institutional submissions to REF2021 and REF2029.

Qualifications
  • BSc, Pharmacology, First Class, University College London.
  • DPhil in Pharmacology, University of Oxford.
  • Certificate of Higher Education, University of Sheffield. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research interests

My research interests are in the areas of dysfunctional inflammation and immunity in disease and ageing. Our research aims to identify how macrophage function declines with age, and how some immune cell functions are over-activated in autoimmune inflammatory diseases such as lupus. I am interested in the changes in immune cell macrophages within the arterial plaque environment associated with increased susceptibility to heart attack and stroke. We study many of these processes in human primary blood cells from volunteers and patients.

Current projects

  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Project Grant. "Novel zebrafish approaches to investigate leaderless protein secretion in vivo."
  • British Heart Foundation Project Grant. "Mechanisms and consequences of in vivo targeting of IL-1 to the endothelium."
  • British Heart Foundation PhD studentship. "Regulation of the Endothelial P2X4/7 Receptor Axis.”
  • Heart Research UK. Clinical Training Fellowship (supervisor). "Neutrophil delivery of IL-1 as a mechanism of MI risk after lung infection."
  • A*Star Studentship. "Contribution of blood immune cell subtypes in inflammatory function and the development of cardiovascular disease."
  • Horizon 2020 European Commission. Marie Curie Innovative Training Network Programme Award. TRAIN ‘Tribbles Research and Innovation Network’ 2016-2021
Publications

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Journal articles

All publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

Research group
  • Joshua Kimble
  • Mazen F Alhommrani
Teaching interests

I teach students undertaking BSc, MBChB, MSc, MRes and PhD courses in the areas of Cardiovascular Medicine and Cell Biology. I am academic lead for the 6-week Student Selected Component (SSC) in Phase 3a of the MBChB medical programme. I am module deputy for Social Aspects in the MSc in Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, and teach on cardiovascular disease in undergraduate courses. I run Education for Sustainable Development workshops on several teaching programmes in the School of Medicine and Population Health.

Teaching activities
  • RCUK Fellow, University of Sheffield, 2005-2010
  • Lecturer, University of Sheffield, 2010-2017
  • Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, 2018-Present
Professional activities and memberships
  • Departmental REF Lead.
  • Member of the British Atherosclerosis Society and British Society of Immunology
  • Ethics reviewer
  • Member of the Bateson Centre, University of Sheffield (formerly Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics)
  • Wellcome Trust PDRA, Laboratory of Profs Alan North & Annmarie Surprenant
  • BHF PDRA, Laboratory of Prof. Steven Dower