Professor Richard Aspinall
Professor of Translational Medicine
Location: Cranfield Health, Vincent Building, Cranfield Campus
E: r.aspinall@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 758343
Current activities
Recent work from Professor Aspinall's group shows that age associated atrophy of the thymus is one of the key factors behind age related immune deficiency, and that thymic atrophy is associated with reduced levels of interleukin 7 in the thymus. In a series of proof of principle experiments they have shown that treatment with recombinant IL-7 reverses thymic atrophy, increases thymic output and improves subsequent immune responses.
Clients
EU FP7 partner in consortium led by Professor A Buerkle, University of Konstanz to study biomarkers of ageing;
Research into Ageing;
Collaboration with Dr P T Ngom from the Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia.
Background
Professor Aspinall's interests centre on defining a therapeutic approach to age associated immune deficiencies. He is a member of MRC College of Experts and a member of the British Society for Immunology, the British Transplantation Society and the British Society for Research on Ageing of which he was the Chairman from 1999-2003. In addition he has served on the editorial boards of the journals 'Mechanisms of Ageing and Development' and 'Biogerontology'. He is a section editor on 'Immunity and Ageing' and an Associate Editor on 'Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research'.Selected publications
Long-term effects of perinatal nutrition on T-lymphocyte kinetics in young Gambian men.
Ghattas, H., Wallace, D.L., Solon, J.A., Henson, S.M., Zhang, Y., Ngom, P.T., Aspinall, R., Morgan, G., Griffin, G.E., Prentice, A.M. and Macallan, D.C.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007, 85: 480-7.
Old Rhesus macaques treated with Interleukin 7 show increased TREC levels and respond to vaccination.
Aspinall, R., Pido-Lopez. J., Henson, S.M., Ngom, P.T. Imami, N., Morre, M., Niphuis, H., Remarque, E., Heeney, J. and Rosenwirth, B.
Rejuvination Research, 2007, 10, 1-14.
An IL-7 fusion protein that shows increased thymopoietic ability.
Henson, S.M., Snelgrove, R., Hussell, T., Wells, D.J. and Aspinall, R.
J. Immunol., 2005, 175: 4112-8.
Improved thymic function in exclusively breast-fed babies is associated with higher breast milk IL-7.
Ngom, P.T., Collinson, A.C., Pido-Lopez, J., Henson, S.M., Prentice, A.M. and Aspinall, R.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004, 80: 722-728.
My T's gone cold, I'm wondering why.
Aspinall, R., Henson, S. and Pido-Lopez, J.
Nat. Immunol., 4: 203-5.
