MrMax Ellington
Research Postgraduate
School of Public Health - Faculty of Medicine
- Research PostgraduateSchool of Public Health - Faculty of Medicine
- Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, United Kingdom
BIO
Max Ellington is a PhD student working on a project funded by the UKHSA.
His research investigates our understanding of the impacts of inhaled particulate matter on neurological health.
A prominent form of air pollution is particulate matter (PM). There is an emerging body of evidence that PM2.5 can invade deeper into the lungs than other PM, prompting questions about particulates crossing into the circulatory system and ultimately entering the brain via the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Air pollution is known to have adverse effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, but the key question is the extent to which these impact on the brain indirectly, or whether air pollution mediates its effect directly via particulate/chemical translocation to the brain.
This project aims to investigate the impacts of inhaled particulates on BBB integrity, particle translocation across the BBB, and BBB inflammatory mediators that may be a cause of neuroinflammation. This will include both in vivo and in vitro work. In vitro work will establish a 3D cell culture BBB model, a physiologically relevant model using BBB associated cells. In vivo work will involve using rodents as an animal model. Models will be exposed to PM at levels that represent ambient, chronic exposure, with further analysis of BBB permeability and animal behaviours.
PhD Supervisors: Dr Rachel Smith, Dr Chang Guo, Dr Nora Bourbia and Dr Ian Mudway.
His research investigates our understanding of the impacts of inhaled particulate matter on neurological health.
A prominent form of air pollution is particulate matter (PM). There is an emerging body of evidence that PM2.5 can invade deeper into the lungs than other PM, prompting questions about particulates crossing into the circulatory system and ultimately entering the brain via the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Air pollution is known to have adverse effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, but the key question is the extent to which these impact on the brain indirectly, or whether air pollution mediates its effect directly via particulate/chemical translocation to the brain.
This project aims to investigate the impacts of inhaled particulates on BBB integrity, particle translocation across the BBB, and BBB inflammatory mediators that may be a cause of neuroinflammation. This will include both in vivo and in vitro work. In vitro work will establish a 3D cell culture BBB model, a physiologically relevant model using BBB associated cells. In vivo work will involve using rodents as an animal model. Models will be exposed to PM at levels that represent ambient, chronic exposure, with further analysis of BBB permeability and animal behaviours.
PhD Supervisors: Dr Rachel Smith, Dr Chang Guo, Dr Nora Bourbia and Dr Ian Mudway.
FACULTY
- Faculty of Medicine
POSITION NAME
- Research Postgraduate