Professor Ed Rainger BSc, PhD

• PhD: Comparative Immunology (1992)
• BSc: in Marine Biology (1989)

Professor Ed Rainger qualified for a BSc in Marine Biology from Newcastle University in 1989. Moving to Swansea, Ed conducted his PhD studies (awarded in 1992) in comparative immunology, specifically looking at the responses to commercially farmed fish species to vaccination. In 1993 Ed moved to Birmingham University where he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Physiology investigating the inflammatory response to hypoxia and the role of platelets in recruiting leukocytes.

In 2002, Ed was awarded a prestigious 5 year Basic Sciences Lectureship from the British Heart Foundation. This personal fellowship was renewed for a further 5 years in 2007 at the level of Senior Lecturer. During the 10 years of tenure as a British Heart Foundation Fellow, Ed developed sophisticated co-culture models in which disease environments could be recapitulated in vitro and the cellular pathology of inflammatory diseases investigated.

In 2006, Ed was awarded a Readership at the University of Birmingham in The School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine working closely with collaborators from Birmingham and other national and international institute’s to investigate the cellular pathology of chronic inflammatory diseases.

In 2012, Ed was promoted to Professor of Chronic Inflammation, and when the Medical School moved to an Institute based model of organisation he found a natural home in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, although he has associate affiliations with a number of other institutes and colleges across the campus.

Professor Ed Rainger along with and Drs Asif Iqbal and Myriam Chimen talk about their work to understand how inflammation affects the Cardiovascular System with the goal to transfer their findings to benefit patients:

Biomedical Sciences Degree

2^nd Year              

• Leukocyte Recruitment in Disease

 3^rd year                

• Biology of Ageing
• Vascular Biology and Pathology
• Immunity and Inflammatory Disease
• Science Communication Principals and Practise 

MBChB (Medical degree)

1^st Year                

• Respiratory Physiology

2^nd year               

• Cardiovascular Physiology 
  
  MSc Immunotherapy

1^st year              

Peptides as therapeutics 

PhD with Integrated Study Physical Sciences for Health

1^st year               

• Cardiovascular Disease

PhD Supervision:

14 completed; 1 current

Professor Rainger is interested in supervising PhD projects in the areas of

● The regulation of leukocyte trafficking differentiation and function in acute inflammation

● The dysregulation of leukocyte trafficking, differentiation and function in chronic disease

● The role of platelets in inflammation, in particularly atheromatous disease of the arteries

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Ed directly on the contact details above, or
for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings  

Professor Rainger’s area of research interest is regulation of inflammation, with particular focus on the recruitment and organisation of the leukocytic infiltrate. This is a broad remit because he believes it is essential to characterise physiological resolving inflammation, in order to understand chronic inflammatory disease. To facilitate studies in this area he utilises sophisticated in vitro models of vascular inflammation, including unique co-culture platforms using human cells. In addition his group have developed pre-clinical models of inflammation and inflammatory disease in which to conduct translational work. His group work under 3 major themes:

1) The cellular pathology of Athersclerosis: This theme has drawn long term support from the BHF, including 10 years of Personal Fellowship and 5 years of Programme Grant funding. Our recent work investigates the role of platelets in monocyte recruitment during atherogenesis.     

2) Regulation of the inflammatory response by dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3-PUFAs; AKA fish oils): The affects of n-3 PUFAs on endothelial cell and leukocyte biology is my niche area in this field, and we are using our in vitro modelling skills, to identify new steps in the regulation of leukocyte recruitment, differentiation and function.

3) Regulation of the inflammatory response by a novel peptide derived from the 14.3.3.zeta protein: We have identified an endogenous peptide mediated mechanism by which T cell recruitment is regulated. We believe that this unique pathway may be important in many auto-immune and/or chronic inflammatory diseases in which T cells contribute to the cellular pathology. A University of Birmingham spinout company, Viatem Ltd, is currently translating patents around this area into new anti-inflammatory drugs.  

• Director Graduate Studies, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (2015-2017) 
• Member of the British Heart Foundation Project Grants Committee (2014-2017)
• Postdoctoral / Early Researcher, Career Development and Training (PERCAT) Committee (2012-)
• Committee for the College Research Development Fund (2012-)
• Member, The Postgraduate Graduate Quality Assurance Committee of the College of Medicine and Dentistry (2010-2012)
• Member, Expert committee of the Agence d'Evaluation de la Recherche et des établissements d'Enseignement Supérieur (AERES). (2010-)
• Deputy Director of Graduate Studies, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (2009-2015)
• Member of the FP7-Expert Evaluator pool (2009-2013)   
• Chairman of the UK Adhesion Society (2007-2014)
• Medical Research Council Biomarkers Review Panel (2008; Convened once only for special call)
• Member of the Birmingham University Biomedical Ethical Review Sub-committee (2008-2016)