Research themes
Structural Biology and Biomarkers
Research activity
Dr Ward’s research applies proteomic approaches to discover biomarkers by analyzing carefully collected clinical samples. This work capitalizes on the advanced mass spectrometry equipment provided by Birmingham Science City, the large patient base in the West Midlands and local scientific, clinical, bioinformatic and statistical expertise. Most of his work focuses on identifying novel tumour markers for lung, liver, GI tract and bladder cancers. He also uses proteomics to study α-antitrypsin deficiency and organ transplantation. In addition to biomarker discovery, Dr Ward is also interested in using mass spectrometry to assay biomarkers where immunoassays are not suitable, and the downstream validation of promising candidates.
Bryan RT, Wei W, Shimwell NJ, Collins SI, Hussain SA, Billingham LJ, Murray PG, Deshmukh N, James ND, Wallace DM, Johnson PJ, Zeegers MP, Cheng K, Martin A, Ward DG. (2011) Assessment of High-Throughput High-Resolution MALDI-TOF-MS of Urinary Peptides for the Detection of Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. Proteomics Clin Appl. Epub ahead of print.
Rathinam S, Ward DG, James ND, Rajesh PB. Proteomic analysis of resectable non-small cell lung cancer: post resection serum samples may be useful in identifying potential markers. (2011) Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 13 3-6
Robson-Ansley P, Walshe I, Ward D. (2011) The effect of carbohydrate ingestion on plasma interleukin-6, hepcidin and iron concentrations following prolonged exercise. Cytokine. 53 196-200
Shimwell NJ, Wei W, Wilson S, Wakelam MJ, Ismail T, Iqbal T, Johnson PJ, Martin A, Ward DG. (2010) Assessment of novel combinations of biomarkers for the detection of colorectal cancer. Cancer Biomark. 7 123-32
Ward DG, Wei W, Buckels J, Taha AM, Hegab B, Tariciotti L, Salih R, Qi YQ, Martin A, Johnson PJ. (2010) Detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma using circulating fragments of fibrinogen. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 22 1358-63
Tselepis C, Ford SJ, McKie AT, Vogel W, Zoller H, Simpson RJ, Diaz-Castro J, Iqbal TH, Ward DG. (2010) Characterisation of the transition metal binding properties of hepcidin. Biochem J. 427 289-296
Wei, W., Martin, A., Johnson, P.J., Ward, D.G. (2010) 10 years of SELDI; what have we learnt? Current Proteomics 7 15-25
Iqbal T, Diab A, Ward DG, Brookes MJ, Tselepis C, Murray J, Elias E. (2009) Is iron overload in alcohol-related cirrhosis mediated by hepcidin? World J Gastroenterol. 15 5864-6