Professor Janet M Lord FMedSci

Professor Janet Lord

Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Professor of Cell Biology
Director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 371 3234
Email
j.m.lord@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Lord_lab
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
University of Birmingham Research Labs
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham
B15 2WB

Janet Lord is the Director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and Professor of Cell Biology.

Her research focusses on the dysregulation of immunity in old age, in particular the decline in neutrophil function and how this compromises the response to infection and tissue injury. She aims to understand the mechanism involved and to develop novel therapies to improve immunity in older adults.

Qualifications

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

Biography

Janet Lord is Professor of Immune Cell Biology and Director of the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham. She is also Director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and theme lead for sarcopaenia in the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre and leads the acute response to injury themes in the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre and the Scar Free Foundation Centre for Burns Research.

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 sarcopaenia 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.

In 2013 she was awarded the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead medal for her outstanding research in human ageing by the British Society for Research in to Ageing. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015. She has published over 200 original papers and reviews.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

  • PhD in Immune Ageing
  • PhD in Musculoskeletal Ageing
  • PhD in Trauma Immunology

Research

  • 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

Other activities

  • Section editor for the Journal Ageing Cell

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Bentley, C, Potter, C, Yakoub, KM, Brock, K, Homer, V, Toman, E, Taylor, AE, Shaheen, F, Gilligan, LC, Athwal, A, Barton, D, Carrera, R, Young, K, Desai, A, McGee, K, Ermogenous, C, Sur, G, Greig, CA, Hazeldine, J, Arlt, W, Lord, JM & Foster, MA 2021, 'A prospective, phase II, single-centre, cross-sectional, randomised study investigating Dehydroepiandrosterone supplementation and its Profile in Trauma: ADaPT', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 7, e040823. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040823

Zemedikun, D, Chandan, J, Raindi, D, Dhirajlal Rajgor, A, Gokhale, K, Thomas, T, Falahee, M, De Pablo, P, Lord, J, Raza, K & Nirantharakumar, K 2021, 'Burden of chronic diseases associated with periodontal diseases: a retrospective cohort study using UK primary care data', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 12, e048296. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048296

Cato, L, Bailiff, B, Price, J, Ermogenous, C, Hazeldine, J, Lester, W, Lowe, G, Wearn, C, Bishop, J, Lord, J, Moiemen, N & Harrison, P 2021, 'Heparin resistance in severe thermal injury: a prospective cohort study', Burns & Trauma, vol. 9, tkab032. https://doi.org/10.1093/burnst/tkab032

GSTT CovidCollaborative 2021, 'Individual factors including age, BMI and heritable factors underlie temperature variation in sickness and in health: an observational, multi-cohort study', The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab295

Hazeldine, J & Lord, JM 2021, 'Neutrophils and COVID-19: Active Participants and Rational Therapeutic Targets', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 12, 680134. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.680134

Chandan, J, Zemedikun, D, Thayakaran, R, Byrne, N, Dhalla , S, Acosta-Mena , D, Gokhale, K, Thomas, T, Sainsbury, C, Subramanian, A, Cooper, J, Anand, A, Okoth, K, Wang, J, Adderley, N, Taverner, T, Denniston, A, Lord, J, Thomas, GN, Buckley, C, Raza, K, Bhala, N, Nirantharakumar, K & Haroon, S 2021, 'Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and susceptibility to COVID‐19', Arthritis and Rheumatology, vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 731-739. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.41593

Malik, NS, Chernbumroong, S, Xu, Y, Vassallo, J, Lee, J, Moran, CG, Newton, T, Arul, GS, Lord, JM, Belli, A, Keene, D, Foster, M, Hodgetts, T, Bowley, DM & Gkoutos, GV 2021, 'Paediatric major incident triage: UK military tool offers best performance in predicting the need for time-critical major surgical and resuscitative intervention', EClinicalMedicine, vol. 40, 101100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101100

Prete, A, Taylor, AE, Bancos, I, Smith, DJ, Foster, MA, Kohler, S, Fazal-Sanderson, V, Komninos, J, O'Neil, DM, Vassiliadi, DA, Mowatt, CJ, Mihai, R, Fallowfield, JL, Annane, D, Lord, JM, Keevil, BG, Wass, JAH, Karavitaki, N & Arlt, W 2021, 'Response to Letter to the Editor from Chee et al: "Prevention of Adrenal Crisis: Cortisol Response to Major Stress Compared to Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Delivery"', The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, vol. 106, no. 1, pp. e407-e408. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa719

Prete, A, Taylor, AE, Bancos, I, Smith, DJ, Foster, MA, Kohler, S, Fazal-Sanderson, V, Komninos, J, O'Neil, DM, Vassiliadi, DA, Mowatt, CJ, Mihai, R, Fallowfield, JL, Annane, D, Lord, JM, Keevil, BG, Wass, JAH, Karavitaki, N & Arlt, W 2021, 'Response to Letter to the Editor: "Prevention of Adrenal Crisis: Cortisol Response to Major Stress Compared to Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Delivery"', The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, vol. 106, no. 1, pp. e404-e406. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa712

Lall, R, Mistry, D, Skilton, E, Boota, N, Regan, S, Bion, J, Gates, S, Gordon, AC, Lord, J, McAuley, DF, Perkins, G, Singer, M, Young, D & Whitehouse, T 2021, 'Study into the reversal of septic shock with landiolol (beta blockade): STRESS-L Study protocol for a randomised trial', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 2, e043194. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043194

Malik, NS, Chernbumroong, S, Xu, Y, Vassallo, J, Lee, J, Bowley, DM, Hodgetts, T, Moran, CG, Lord, JM, Belli, A, Keene, D, Foster, M & Gkoutos, GV 2021, 'The BCD Triage Sieve outperforms all existing major incident triage tools: comparative analysis using the UK national trauma registry population', EClinicalMedicine, vol. 36, 100888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100888

Allen, SL, Marshall, RN, Edwards, SJ, Lord, JM, Lavery, GG & Breen, L 2021, 'The effect of young and old ex vivo human serum on cellular protein synthesis and growth in an in vitro model of aging', AJP: Cell Physiology, vol. 321, no. 1, pp. C26-C37. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.00093.2021

Hazeldine, J, Dinsdale, R, Naumann, D, Acharjee, A, Bishop, J, Lord, J & Harrison, P 2021, 'Traumatic injury is associated with reduced deoxyribonuclease activity and dysregulation of the actin scavenging system', Burns & Trauma, vol. 9, tkab001. https://doi.org/10.1093/burnst/tkab001

Zemedikun, DT, Gokhale, K, Chandan, JS, Copper, J, Lord, JM, Filer, A, Falahee, M, Nirantharakumar, K & Raza, K 2021, 'Type 2 diabetes mellitus, glycaemic control, associated therapies and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a retrospective cohort study', Rheumatology (Oxford, England). https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab148

Review article

Dhaliwal, A, Quinlan, JI, Overthrow, K, Greig, C, Lord, JM, Armstrong, MJ & Cooper, SC 2021, 'Sarcopenia in inflammatory bowel disease: a narrative overview', Nutrients, vol. 13, no. 2, 656. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020656

View all publications in research portal