Dr Chris Mahony BSc, PhD

Chris Mahony

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Mahony is an experienced scientist at the University of Birmingham (UK). He has gained postdoctoral experience in functional genomics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and spatial transcriptomics to unravel the complexities of inflammatory diseases. His current work focuses on uncovering novel transcriptional regulators of synovial fibroblast pathogenicity in the context of Rheumatoid arthritis along with mapping the inflamed joint in JIA. This work relies on developing single cell analysis methods along with spatial transcriptomics and multiplex imaging to highlight novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets that are functionally validated using a range of molecular biology approaches. 

Qualifications

  • PhD in Biomedical Sciences, 2013 (University of Aberdeen, UK)
  • BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences, 2009 (University of Aberdeen, UK)

Biography

Chris completed his PhD at the University of Aberdeen in 2013 in Professor Vargesson’ s lab. He then moved to Geneva and worked in Professor Bertrand’s lab for his first postdoc. In 2019 he then moved to the University of Birmingham for his second postdoc positon in Dr Monteiro’s lab. In 2021 Chris moved to Prof. Croft’s lab where he is using a range of computational approaches to analyse scRNA-Seq/scATAC-Seq/CITE-Seq data along with functional validation to better understand the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • Immunology - 2nd year
  • Cell signalling - 1st year

Postgraduate

  • MSc Bioinformatics

Research

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Schettino, A, Saviano, A, Marigliano, N, Smimmo, M, Esposito, E, Begum, J, Fatima, A, Urbanowski, AM, Mahony, C, Khormi, AM, Mansour, AA, Iqbal, TH, McGettrick, HM, Iqbal, AJ & Maione, F 2026, 'A Mangifera indica L. extract functions as a broad TLR2/4/6 signalling rheostat to attenuate MyD88/NF-κB-driven inflammation and macrophage polarization', Pharmacological Research, vol. 224, 108099. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2026.108099

Chen, Y-Y, Mahony, C, Turner, J, Smith, CG, Abdulsalam, A, Amirize, E, Prince, A, Heagerty, A, Roberts, C, Croft, A, Wilson, Y, Moiemen, N & Lord, JM 2026, 'Cellular heterogeneity in hypertrophic burn scars in response to carbon dioxide laser therapy', Communications Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01521-w

Niven, J, Kucuk, S, Gope, A, Certo, M, Cassidy, FC, Arana Echarri, A, Ali, S, Ladoukakis, E, Vidali, S, Macchi, C, Amir, SS, Bergin, R, Davies, S, Perkin, OJ, Smith, J, Cucchi, D, Heneghan, H, Wijesinghe, S, Jenkins, BJ, Baig, S, Mahony, C, Chidomere, C, Sarkar, S, Nicolaou, A, Caamaño, J, Croft, A, Davies, E, Thompson, D, O’Shea, D, Jones, SW, Duggal, NA, Ruscica, M, Makarova, M, Jones, N, Da Silva Xavier, G, Geberhiwot, T, Turner, JE, Hogan, AE, Nedjai, B & Mauro, C 2026, 'DNA methylation-mediated memory of obesity in CD4 T lymphocytes perpetuates immune dysregulation', EMBO Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00765-w

Koh, B, Gal Oz, ST, Sato, R, Nguyen, HN, Dunlap, G, Mahony, C, Bolton, C, Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) RA/SLE Network, Wedderburn, LR, Croft, AP, Donlin, L, Smith, MH, Raychaudhuri, S, Korsunsky, I, Rao, DA & Brenner, MB 2026, 'Functional and dysfunctional T regulatory cell states in human tissues in RA and other autoimmune arthritic diseases', Nature Immunology, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 1449-1461. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-026-02540-4

Clay, E, Hackland, A, Smith, C, Reis Nisa, P, Neag, G, Mahony, CB, Adams, HR, Jones, LJ, Chin, PS, Kemble, S, Marsh, L-J, Filer, A & Croft, AP 2026, 'Minimally invasive, ultrasound-guided synovial tissue biopsies are well-tolerated, safe and feasible in children and young people with inflammatory arthritis', RMD Open, vol. 12, no. 4, e006817. https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2026-006817

Wahid, M, Kemble, S, Abudu, O, Saviano, A, Mahony, C, Lewis, JW, Nicholson, TA, Schettino, A, Marigliano, N, Frost, K, Begum, J, Urbanowski, AM, Limo, M, Jha, R, Jarquin, SM, Pezhman, L, Degan, AEA, Anderson, AE, Smith, CG, Batki, A, Adams, H, Caso, F, Scarpa, R, McInnes, I, Siebert, S, Pratt, AG, Filer, A, Raza, K, Croft, AP, Chimen, M, de Cogan, F, Rainger, GE, Iqbal, AJ, Maione, F & McGettrick, HM 2026, 'PEPITEM Regulates the Synovial Microenvironment During Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Arthritis to Limit Disease', Arthritis & Rheumatology (Hoboken). https://doi.org/10.1002/art.70108

Magalhaes, MS, Malengier-Devlies, B, Seuzaret, G, Ahlback, A, Becker, S, Patatsos, K, Drakoulis, G, Karjalainen, J, Ruedl, C, Voehringer, D, Bain, CC, Emmerson, E, Schonfeldova, B, Zec, K, Udalova, I, Simakou, T, MacDonald, L, Kurowska-Stolarska, M, Miotla-Zarebska, J, Vincent, T, Ricci, R, Erbs, E, Barrington, J, McColl, BW, Neag, G, Mahony, C, Croft, AP, Boon, L, Vermeren, M, Bajénoff, M, Ben Brahim, O, Uderhardt, S, Gallerand, A, Ivanov, S & Gentek, R 2026, 'Synovial lining macrophages form during early postnatal life via fetal-derived CX3CR1+ cells and AQP1+ intermediates', Cell Reports, vol. 45, no. 8, 117698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117698

Davidson, S, Simone, D, Jansen, K, Cowan, M, Machado, C, Reekie, I, Bhalla, A, Borst, R, Prada Medina, C, Bull, J, Wong, ZY, Hill, S, Garvilles, M, Pledger, S, Nisa, PR, Schwingen, NR, Windell, D, Attar, M, Disney, C, Bodey, AJ, Parmenter, A, Byrne, H, Ahmed, S, Marathe, S, Lee, PD, Mahony, C, Croft, AP, Sansom, S, Coles, MC & Buckley, CD 2026, 'The embryonic origins of site-specific arthritis', Nature Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-026-02542-2

Cartography Consortium, Liu, F, Shi, H, Turner, JD, Anscombe, R, Li, J, Sekine, T, Hammitzsch, A, Agarwal, D, Mahony, C, Chen, J, Kendrick, B, Du, D, Tong, Q, Duan, L, Dooley, K, Fang, H, Korsunsky, I, Madhu, R, Cribbs, AP, Friedrich, M, Marsden, BD, Chen, Y-L, Ogg, G, Adams, A, Chen, W, Leonardo, S, McCann, FE, Buckley, CD, Rooney, T, Freeman, T, Uhlig, HH, Dendrou, C, Croft, A, Filer, A, Bowness, P & Chen, L 2025, 'CD4+ tissue-resident memory Th17 cells are a major source of IL-17A in Spondyloarthritis synovial tissue', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 84, no. 7, pp. 1151-1163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.04.018

JDCBS, Syntakas, AE, Kartawinata, M, Evans, NML, Nguyen, HD, Papadopoulou, C, Obaidi, MA, Pilkington, C, Glackin, Y, Mahony, CB, Croft, AP, Eaton, S, Cortina-Borja, M, Ogunbiyi, O, Merve, A, Wedderburn, LR & Wilkinson, MGL 2025, 'Spatial transcriptomic analysis of muscle biopsy from patients with treatment-naive juvenile dermatomyositis reveals mitochondrial abnormalities despite disease-related interferon-driven signature', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.07.015

Bolton, C, Mahony, CB, Clay, E, Reis Nisa, P, Lomholt, S, Hackland, A, Chin, PS, Smith, CG, Alexiou, V, Nguyen, HD, Thyagarajan, M, Sheikh, Z, Davis, P, Chippington, S, Compeyrot-Lacassagne, S, Davda, S, Foley, C, Turtsevich, I, Ingledow, B, Kupiec, K, Kelly, J, Hanlon, MM, DiCarlo, E, Jones, LJ, Smith, SL, Eyre, S, Neag, G, Kemble, S, Madhu, R, Palshikar, MG, Korsunsky, I, Gao, C, Tran, M, Dendrou, C, Buckley, CD, Coles, MC, Raza, K, MAPJAG Study Group, Gravallese, E, Filer, A, Wei, K, Al-Abadi, E, Rosser, EC, Wedderburn, LR & Croft, A 2025, 'Synovial tissue atlas in juvenile idiopathic arthritis reveals pathogenic niches associated with disease severity', Science Translational Medicine, vol. 17, no. 805, eadt6050. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adt6050

Rauber, S, Mohammadian, H, Schmidkonz, C, Atzinger, A, Soare, A, Treutlein, C, Kemble, S, Mahony, CB, Geisthoff, M, Angeli, MR, Raimondo, MG, Xu, C, Yang, K-T, Lu, L, Labinsky, H, Saad, MSA, Gwellem, CA, Chang, J, Huang, K, Kampylafka, E, Knitza, J, Bilyy, R, Distler, JHW, Hanlon, MM, Fearon, U, Veale, DJ, Roemer, FW, Bäuerle, T, Maric, HM, Maschauer, S, Ekici, AB, Buckley, CD, Croft, AP, Kuwert, T, Prante, O, Cañete, JD, Schett, G & Ramming, A 2024, 'CD200+ fibroblasts form a pro-resolving mesenchymal network in arthritis', Nature Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-024-01774-4

Coyle, C, Ma, M, Abraham, Y, Mahony, CB, Steel, K, Simpson, C, Guerra, N, Croft, AP, Rapecki, S, Cope, A, Bowcutt, R & Perucha, E 2024, 'NK cell subsets define sustained remission in rheumatoid arthritis', JCI Insight, vol. 9, no. 23, e182390. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.182390

Mahony, C & Monteiro, R 2024, 'Protocol for the analysis of hematopoietic lineages in the whole kidney marrow of adult zebrafish', STAR Protocols, vol. 5, no. 1, 102810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102810

Baruah, P, Mahony, C, Marshall, JL, Smith, CG, Monksfield, P, Irving, RI, Dumitriu, IE, Buckley, CD & Croft, AP 2024, 'Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of vestibular schwannoma reveals functionally distinct macrophage subsets', British Journal of Cancer, vol. 130, no. 10, pp. 1659-1669. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-024-02646-2

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