Professor Damian Mole

Damian’s research is driven by a vision to produce innovative solutions to difficult health and societal problems and challenging diseases. His entrepreneurial research strategy is based on a critical questioning approach, disease mechanism evaluation and seeking out and building the best teams to discover and deliver these solutions.

Damian’s current research includes understanding why people who have sustained significant inflammation have diminished overall survival and poor organ performance.

Professor Damian Mole

MRC Senior Clinical Fellow

  • Centre for Inflammation Research

Contact details

Group Members

  • Xiaozhong Zheng - Research Fellow (email)
  • Jamie Toombs - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Ben Higgins – Research Assistant
  • Jim Black – Technician/Lab management
  • Sandra Spratt – Technician
  • Jay Kulkarni - Clinical Research PhD Fellow - Defining the mechanistic role of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase in breast cancer
  • James O'Kelly - Clinical Research PhD Fellow - Amelie Waring Fellow of the Pancreatic Society of GB and Ireland. Single cell definition of the mechanistic role of kynurenine monooxygenase at the innate immune interface in acute pancreatitis.
  • Heather Waddell - MRC DTP in Precision Medicine - Circadian biology of the systemic inflammatory response during critical illness.
  • Niamh Graham - EPSRC MACMIGS Doctoral Training Program - Modelling survival functions and their critical points (2nd supervisor with Dr Natalia Bochkina, School of Mathematics)

Lab Alumni

  • Lucile Neyton - MRC Precision Medicine PhD, 2020
  • Dolors Puigoriol Illamola - Visiting PhD Scholar, Fundació Pedro i Pons, University of Barcelona, 2019
  • Alastair Hayes - Clinical Research PhD, 2020
  • Christos Skouras – Clinical Research MD, 2016
  • Kate Walker – Technician
  • Kris McGuire – Postdoctoral Research Assistant, 2017-2021
  • Soudabeh Rad Pour – Erasmus+ visiting PhD student from the Karolinska Institute, 2016
  • Toby Murray – MScR, 2016
  • Francesca Th’ng – MScR, 2015

Background

Damian is the 1777 Professor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, and is an UK Medical Research Council Senior Clinical Fellow. His research is focussed on advancing translational therapies for benign and malignant diseases of the liver, pancreas and biliary system. Damian’s research is driven by a vision to produce innovative solutions to difficult health and societal problems and challenging diseases. His entrepreneurial research strategy is based on a critical questioning approach, disease mechanism evaluation and seeking out and building the best teams to discover and deliver these solutions.

Research Overview

Our research is centred around the interface between inflammation, metabolism and the immune system.  The specific focus has been on kynurenine monooxygenase (KMO), a mitochondrial enzyme that plays a major role in the control of metabolism and inflammation. Blocking KMO reduces cell injury and protects against tissue injury, and these same mechanisms are harnessed by the immune system to regulate immunity. There are widespread potential clinical applications of KMO blockade, including reducing the lasting impact of oxidative stress damage after inflammation.

The following PDF provides a brief visual summary of this group’s current research.

Mole Group graphic summary (422.68 KB / PDF)

 

You can view a full catalogue of graphical research summaries for each group in the Centre for Inflammation Research by visiting our Research page.

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