What exactly are tissues made of, and why are these details important? In this seminar, I will talk about advances in our understanding of the extrinsic cues that define cell positioning and identity within tissues. My lab focuses on deconvoluting the complexity of site-specific extracellular matrix gene expression and organization. We are investigating how dynamic changes in the matrix during inflammation orchestrate controlled immune responses, how incipient tumor cells re-decorate tissues to their advantage to subvert immune surveillance, and how targeting signals from the matrix can provide a rich source of novel immunomodulatory therapies.
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Kim graduated with a B.Sc. (HONS) in Biochemistry from Edinburgh University in 1995, and completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Pathology at Edinburgh University in 1999, identifying how changes in the extracellular matrix switch cell signalling pathways in arthritis. She undertook postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University in the US from 1999, investigating the molecular mechanisms by which matrix molecules define cell phenotype during tissue repair. In 2004 she established the Matrix Immunology group in the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at Imperial College London, moving to Oxford University in 2011. Her work aims to map complex cues from the tissue microenvironment that dictate site-specific cell behaviour, define how dynamic, coordinated changes in the extracellular matrix initiate, shape and resolve inflammation, and develop novel therapeutic strategies for re-instating control over pathological inflammation. In 2007 she was awarded an MRC New Investigators Award and in 2012 an Arthritis Research UK Senior Fellowship. She founded the BioTech company Nascient Ltd in 2012.
