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Biography
Stephen is Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton. He has pursued a research career on the mechanisms of asthma and allergy involving a wide range of different approaches. He has been President of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and British Thoracic Society and chaired the MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board and the Translational Research Group (TRG). He was chair of Main Panel A of REF 2014 and currently chairs the BLF Research Committee, NC3Rs Board, the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (Defra), and the Research Strategy Committee of Cancer Research UK. He is a member of the Horizon 2020 Science Panel for Health.
Research Interests
Stephen has utilised many different approaches to study this disease including epidemiology, genetics, pathology, microbiology and immunology, pharmacology and experimental medicine. This research has informed guidelines on asthma management and has identified and validated novel therapeutic targets. Notable research contributions include placing inflammation at the core of asthma pathophysiology the role of mast cells and their mediators in asthma and allied disorders, the regulation and pharmacology of mast cells, uncovering the role of respiratory viruses, allergens and pollutants in asthma exacerbation, the discovery of defects in innate immune responses in asthmatic airways, mechanisms of airway wall remodelling and the discovery of novel asthma susceptibility genes such as ADAM33.
Key publications
Roche WR, Beasley R, Williams JH, Holgate ST. Subepithelial fibrosis in the bronchi of asthmatics. Lancet 1989; 1: 520-4. 1043 citations.
Beasley R, Roche WR, Roberts JA, Holgate ST. Cellular events in the bronchi in mild asthma and after bronchial provocation. American Review of Respiratory Disease 1989; 139: 806-17. 1164 citations.
Bradding P, Roberts JA, Britten KM, Montefort S, Djukanovic R, Mueller R, Heusser CH, Howarth PH, Holgate ST. Interleukin-4,-5, and-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in normal and asthmatic airways: evidence for the human mast cell as a source of these cytokines. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 1994; 10: 471-480. 750 citations.
Johnston SL, Pattemore PK, Sanderson G, Smith S, Lampe F, Josephs L, Symington P, O'Toole S, Myint SH, Tyrrell DA, Holgate ST. Community study of role of viral infections in exacerbations of asthma in 9-11 year old children. British Medical Journal 1995; 310: 1225-9. 1604 citations.
Van Eerdewegh P, Little RD, Dupuis J, Del Mastro RG, Falls K, Simon J, Torrey D, Pandit S, McKenny J, Braunschweiger K, Walsh A, Liu Z, Hayward B, Folz C, Manning SP, Bawa A, Saracino L, Thackston M, Benchekroun Y, Capparell N, Wang M, Adair R, Feng Y, Dubois J, FitzGerald MG, Huang H, Gibson R, Allen KM, Pedan A, Danzig MR, Umland SP, Egan RW, Cuss FM, Rorke S, Clough JB, Holloway JW, Holgate ST, Keith TP. Association of the ADAM33 gene with asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Nature 2002; 418: 426-30. 1126 citations.
