Professor Adam Greenstein: Principal Investigator
Adam Greenstein is a doctor specialising in high blood pressure (hypertension), general (internal) medicine and geriatrics at Manchester Royal Infirmary. In addition, he is a clinician-scientist at the University of Manchester and a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Vermont, USA. Adam researches small artery physiology and how damage to small arteries leads to dementia, hypertension and other ‘microvascular’ disorders.
Adam trained in medicine at Manchester, also completing a degree in Pharmacology. After completing junior doctor training in Yorkshire, Adam returned to Manchester for his PhD, funded with a personal fellowship from the European Society for Hypertension. Adam was then awarded a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Travel Fellowship to study with Professor Mark Nelson at the University of Vermont (2011-2012) and on his return to Manchester was awarded a BHF Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (2013-2016) to continue his work. Adam has published his work in almost all the world’s top cardiovascular journals: Circulation, Circulation Research, Hypertension and Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In 2021, his paper was awarded ‘Best Basic Science paper’ by the American Heart Association (Hypertension). In addition, Adam regularly publishes in top US science journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Science Signaling. Over the past decade, Adam has raised over £5 million for his research into small artery physiology and disease.
Professor Mark Nelson: Principal Investigator
Mark Nelson is the world’s leading small artery physiologist, with particular emphasis on the brain circulation. Mark is a University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Vermont and also holds a 20% appointment within the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Manchester.
In 2019, Mark was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest accolade for scientists in the USA. Mark has mentored over fifty post-doctoral scientists during his career with many of his laboratory alumni now holding senior positions in science across the world. Mark’s research interests include elucidating the mechanisms by which cerebral blood flow is controlled to meet the diverse and ever-changing demands of active neurons and how these mechanisms are disrupted in small vessel disease – a major cause of stroke and dementia. Mark has unravelled many of the major mechanisms that control cerebrovascular function, including the discovery of local calcium signals (‘sparks’), which counter-intuitively oppose vasoconstriction. He showed that brain capillaries act as a neural activity-sensing network by initiating and transmitting an electrical signal, mediated by potassium channel activation, that propagates through the interconnected endothelial cells comprising the capillaries that line all blood vessels. This concept explains the rapid and coordinated delivery of blood to active neurons. The near-term goals of Nelson laboratory are to create an integrated view of electrical, calcium and related regulatory signaling mechanisms at molecular, biophysical, and computational-modeling levels by examining their operation in increasingly complex segments of the brain vasculature ex vivo, in vivo, and in silico.
Dr Harry Pritchard: Principal Investigator
Dr Harry Pritchard is an Alzheimer’s Society Future Research Leaders Fellow at Manchester. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Master of Research in Cardiovascular Science at St. Georges, University of London. He also completed his PhD with Professor Iain Greenwood at St. Georges, University of London, in Pharmacology and Electrophysiology, with his thesis entitled ‘Regulation of Ca2+ activated Cl– channels in vascular smooth muscle’.
Following his PhD, Harry moved to University of Nevada at Reno to work with Professor Scott Earley. During this post-doctoral period, Harry published several papers at PNAS, eLife and Science Signalling around the regulation of Ca2+ sparks in vascular smooth muscle and their dependence on microtubules and Junctophilin-2. Moving back to the UK, Harry took up a British Heart Foundation research fellowship at the University of Manchester. Harry’s research interests are in the organisation of subcellular structures that influence cerebral blood flow in health and disease (hypertension, vascular dementia and obesity). His research expertise are in electrophysiology, Ca2+signalling, super-resolution microscopy and pressure myography. In 2023, Harry was awarded the Alzheimer’s Society Future Research Leaders Fellowship.
Professor Alison Gurney: Principal Investigator
Alison is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University ofManchester and is an internationally recognised authority in Pulmonary Hypertension, or raised blood pressure in the lungs. This is a disease with a very poor prognosis and one associated with constriction and remodelling of the small arteries within the lung.
As the diameter of small arteries is crucial to determining the resistance to blood flow and blood pressure, Alison is interested in identifying mechanisms that regulate the diameter of pulmonary arteries which can potentially be targeted by drugs acting to lower pulmonary arterial pressure. Alison has particular interest in the ion channels found in the plasma membranes of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Her work investigates the physiological roles and pharmacology of specific ion channels in these cells. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigating ion channel expression and function, using small-vessel wire myography to investigate constriction in intact vessels, electrophysiology to study the biophysics and pharmacology of ionic currents carried through the channels, fluorescent Calcium imaging to link channel activity and contraction to the regulation of Ca2+ signalling and molecular techniques to study and manipulate the expression of particualar channels. Alison’s contributions to this field include the discovery of KATP channels and the two-pore domain channel, TASK-1, as regulators of smooth muscle membrane potential and pulmonary artery tone. Alison also identified IP3-induced Ca2+ release as the site of action of the vasodilator, hydralazine and demonstrated that potassium channel expression is modulated in pulmonary hypertension and following birth, when the pulmonary circulation begins to function in gas exchange.
Dr Lizzy Cottrell–Principal Investigator
Originally from New Zealand, Lizzy obtained her BSc degree in Physiology from theUniversity of Otago in 2004. After completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2009, she undertook post-doctoral training in Edinburgh and Manchester and in 2015 was awarded a BHF Intermediate Fellowship to establish her own independent research group in the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre in Manchester.
Lizzy’s research aims to better understand how maternal health and disease influence pregnancy outcomes and the long-term health of both mothers and their children. A major aim is to develop rational intervention strategies to improve outcomes in complicated pregnancies. This is achieved using a range of translational research models to study cell signalling and organ function, through to whole body physiology and clinical trials.
Dr Hala Shokr: Principal Investigator
Hala Shokr is a Lecturer in Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Manchester. Hala’s initial degree was in Pharmacy at the University of Alexandria and subsequently, she completed a PhD at Aston University with the Retinal Artery imaging group.
Hala is one of the UK’s leading proponents of dynamic retinal vessel imaging, an approach which can examine the diverse functions of the retinal artery as well as its structure.
Her research focuses on studying the intricacies of microvascular function, delving into the complex mechanisms that govern endothelial cells and vascular tone regulation. Hala combines dynamic retinal vascular analysis (dRVA) with molecular and cellular techniques to elucidate the connection between microvascular abnormalities, oxidative stress, lipid oxidation and systemic diseases.
Hala’s focus is on cardiovascular and neurovascular pathologies, in keeping with the theme of the Microvascular@Manchester group.
Dr Stephanie Worton: Principal Investigator
Dr Stephanie Worton is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics in the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre at the University of Manchester, where she also completed her MBChB, MRes in Medical Sciences and doctoral fellowship. Stephanie’s research interest lies in understanding maternal vascular physiology and identifying new treatments for maternal vascular dysfunction in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
She is passionate about small artery function and enjoys balancing long experimental days in the lab with the adrenaline of working on a busy delivery unit. Stephanie is enthusiastic about encouraging young clinicians to try laboratory science. She credits her own transformative decision to pursue a career in research to the nurturing environment provided by her long-term supervisors, Drs Heazell, Myers, and Greenwood, and aspires to provide the same to the next generation. Stephanie can be found on Twitter @Stephanie.Worton
Joanne Taylor: Principal Investigator
Jo is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Manchester, working across Cardiovascular Sciences and Health Data Sciences. She was awarded a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship in 2019, successfully completing her PhD in 2023. Jo’s main research interest is remote monitoring using implanted cardiac devices (such as pacemakers), specifically how we can use this information to predict when older people are at increased risk of heart failure and hospitalisation.
Jo is passionate about clinical research and has been involved in a number of studies recruiting across Greater Manchester. Jo is also a hospital clinician specialising in Geriatric Medicine at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Her long-term goal is to develop a world-class multidisciplinary Cardio-Geriatrics service for older people with heart failure in Manchester.
Karolina Krakowiak: Research Assistant
Postgraduate Students
Katy Walsh: PhD Student
Katy is a final year PhD student investigating the mechanisms underlying reduced blood flow in Alzheimer’s Disease. Her main techniques in the lab include confocal spinning disc microscopy to identify changes in vascular smooth muscle cell calcium activity and laser speckle imaging of blood flow. She is a part of the 4-year British Heart Foundation PhD programme, which includes an MRes in Cardiovascular Sciences; and obtained her undergraduate degree in Genetics (MSci) from the University of Glasgow. Katy has been involved in multiple outreach projects including Pint of Science and AccessEd, and spends her free time playing competitive netball or running.
Thea Danby: PhD student
Thea completed an undergraduate degree and masters (MSci) in Neuroscience at the University of Manchester. Following this she then worked in industry at a molecular diagnostics company, involved in projects related to non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), Alzheimer’s research and other areas of clinical research. She then returned back to academia as a Research Technician studying small artery disease and dementia and will be starting a PhD within the Microvascular group on Ca spark coupling to BK channels in vascular dementia in January 2024.
Nina Conlon: PhD student
Nina is a second year PhD student investigating whether post stroke dementia results from neurovascular uncoupling of the capillary to the arteriole. Her main techniques in the lab include pressure myography to identify changes in lumen diameter. She is currently learning the Capillary to Parenchymal-arteriole (CaPA) preparation to understand neurovascular coupling in health and following stroke. She is a part of the 4-year British Heart Foundation PhD programme, which includes an MRes in Cardiovascular Sciences; and obtained her undergraduate degree in Psychology (BSc Hons) from the University of Dundee and completed a master’s in applied neuroscience (MSc) also at Dundee. Nina looks forward to getting more involved in outreach programmes this year and enjoys hiking, yoga, and cooking in her spare time.
Lowri Evans: PhD student
Lowri is a final year PhD student investigating the role that inflammation plays in mediating the damage that hypertension (high blood pressure) effects on the brain. In order to study this, she uses the novel Capillary-to-parenchymal arteriole (CaPA) preparation which was developed by Professor Fabrice Dabertrand. Lowri spent six months of her PhD in Professor Dabertrand’s laboratory in Denver, Colorado before returning to set the technique up in Manchester. One of her CaPA preparations is featured on the front page of this website.
Luisa Parnell: PhD student
Luisa is a final year PhD student investigating pre-eclampsia, a disorder of pregnancy in which maternal blood pressure drastically rises. She works jointly with the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, and is trying to identify underlying mechanisms of vascular function within maternal arteries. One of her main research areas includes using confocal spinning disc microscopy to examine differences in calcium activity between normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham, her MRes in Reproduction and Pregnancy from the University of Manchester, and has previously worked in reproductive genetics in London and Oxford. When not waiting for women to give birth, she spends her free time climbing, hiking, and attempting not to fall off a paddleboard.
Microvascular @ Manchester 