Professor David Dockrell

Country: United Kingdom

Institution: Centre for Inflammation Research, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh

Research Areas: Innate immune responses to pneumococci, macrophage responses to pneumococci and other bacteria that cause respiratory infection, macrophage responses to HIV, Clinical infectious diseases

Lab Website: www.ed.ac.uk/inflammation-research/people/principal-investigators/professor-david-dockrell

The lab studies macrophage responses to respiratory pathogens and HIV. The primary focus is S. pneumoniae but with some work on S. aureus and Gram negative bacteria as well as how HIV modulates responses to bacteria. We use primary human macrophages and murine models as well as patient derived alveolar macrophages. We are particularly interested in microbicidal responses to bacteria but have interests in phagocytosis and in a broad range of innate responses as well as in cell death paradigms in the innate response. We are also particularly interested in the regulation of the inflammatory response and its modulation by human diseases. Although we primarily focus on the respiratory tract we also explore processes in extra-pulmonary infections and in non-communicable diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As an infectious disease clinician scientist I have a broad range of clinical interests particularly in relation to infections in immunocompromised hosts, particularly HIV and in exploring the impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as well as the potential to develop host-based therapy to combat AMR.