Professor Janet M Lord FMedSci, CBE

• Emeritus Professor of Immune Cell Biology
• Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences 2015
• PhD Biological Sciences 1983
• BSc (Hons) Human Biology 1979

Janet Lord is Emeritus Professor of Immune Cell Biology at the University of Birmingham. She was the founding Director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research until 2021.

Her primary research focus is on the effect of ageing upon immune function and how this limits the ability of older adults to resolve inflammation occurring in response to infectious challenge or injury. This has led her to research neutrophil function in healthy elders and also after hip fracture and during infections such as pneumonia. She also researches the link between chronic systemic inflammation and physical frailty in old age and has published papers showing that much of the increased systemic inflammation and sarcopenia associated with ageing can be prevented by high levels of physical activity in adulthood.

Professor Lord has a particular interest in the role played by stress (physical and psychological) and the altered HPA axis in modulating immunity and frailty in old age and following an injury such as hip fracture. She has published several papers showing that a heightened HPA axis (increased cortisol:DHEAS ratio) is associated with poor outcomes after hip fracture.

More recently she has carried out research into the impact of critical injury on the rate of biological ageing and how ageing processes influence outcomes such as sepsis and scarring after trauma and burn injury. She aims to develop new therapies to improve outcomes after injury. In this context, she has also worked on the factors driving scarring after burn injury, bringing in her experience from the fields of inflammation and cell senescence.

In 2013 she was awarded the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead medal for her outstanding research in human ageing by the British Society for Research on Ageing. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015 and was awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours list in 2023.

Research Interests

• The effect of ageing on immunity
• Mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal ageing, sarcopaenia and frailty
• The inflammatory response after major trauma and influence on patient outcomes
• Factors influencing scarring after burn injury
• The role of immune ageing in rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis

Current Projects

• Mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal ageing, sarcopaenia and frailty in chronic inflammatory disease
• The role of biological ageing processes in multimorbidity
• The effect of lifelong physical activity on musculoskeletal and immune ageing
• The impact of major trauma on biological age

• Member of the MRC Major Investment Board
• Member of the Management board of the UKRI Ageing Network CARINA
• Member of the British Society for Immunology
• Member of the British Society for Research on Ageing