PhD Project at Queen’s University Belfast.
Post Description
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a common condition in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation, and is often found in association with sepsis and other systemic illnesses. ARDS is associated with a high mortality, and there are no effective pharmacological interventions.
Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is elevated in ARDS and may be a prognostic biomarker in ARDS. In addition suPAR may drive excessive inflammation and cell specific injury which is implicated in development of ARDS.
This project supervised by Dr Dermot Linden, Professor Danny McAuley and Dr Rebecca Coll, will enhance the mechanistic understanding of the role of suPAR in ARDS with a view to identifying suPAR as a prognostic biomarker, and potentially a therapeutic target, in patients with ARDS.
Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post
To confirm our preliminary findings, plasma suPAR will be measured in stored samples from patients with ARDS recruited to the PHIND study. These results will be combined with clinical data from the PHIND study, to validate whether plasma suPAR identifies a novel ARDS phenotype that is associated with increased mortality.
We will also investigate the role of suPAR on the expression of inflammatory mediators in cells which are involved in the inflammatory pathways in ARDS: specifically alveolar macrophages and pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs), co-cultured alveolar macrophages and HPMECs, and finally in a human precision cut lung slice (hPCLS) model.
To apply
Please apply via the online application portal. Click here.
Further Information for Applicants
Deadline: 24th March 2025
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