Dr David Collie

Group Leader/Reader

Biography

Background

Dr David Collie graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 1986 and returned there as a clinical demonstrator in 1988 after a spell in mixed general practice in SW Scotland. Completing an MPhil in the pathophysiology of chronic respiratory disease in calves in 1991 he went on to complete his PhD on pathophysiological correlations in Maedi-Visna in 1994. After a two year post-doctoral fellowship in the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute (now Lovelace Respiratory Research institute), Albuquerque, NM, USA spent working on pathophysiological mechanisms in asthma, he returned to the R(D)SVS in 1996 as a lecturer in comparative respiratory medicine. He maintains a prominent teaching role within the school and his research interests, which are all lung-oriented, centre around his current role as a group leader within the Roslin Institute, R(D)SVS.

His research interests have directed his involvement in a number of projects with both animal health and translational relevance. In the latter regard, between 2000 and 2010 he project-led the development of clinically relevant protocols for lung-directed gene delivery in vivo, using the sheep as a model system, as part of a core facility role within the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium. This led to the selection of an optimised non-viral vector for use in the largest ever phase 2b clinical gene therapy trial, the results of which were published in 2015. The trial was the first to show that repeated doses of gene therapy can have a meaningful effect on the disease.

With crucial relevance to cystic fibrosis current studies involve following the evolution of chronic infections within the lung and finding ways to prevent colonisation and redirecting towards normal colonization profiles.

More recently he has developed in vivo and ex vivo model systems to evaluate radiation-induced lung injury with a view to developing an understanding of the mechanisms that underlay susceptibility to radiation-induced lung injury, and developing ways of mitigating for this risk.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Internal Committees

Roslin LAU committee

Research summary

Pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying lung disease.

Current research interests

Our group has a longstanding interest in developing a closer understanding of the mechanisms that underlay lung disease in domestic animals and man such that appropriate directed therapies can be developed and validated in a pre-clinical setting prior to their evaluation in a clinical context. Current research is directed towards understanding the mechanisms that underlay individual susceptibility to radiation-induced lung injury, and developing strategies to mitigate this risk. In addition our group is currently working towards understanding the way in which microbial communities develop and are arrayed within the healthy lung microbiota and how these communities are influenced by chronic lung infection, particularly in the context of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and/or treatment with antimicrobials. These interests complement our longer term involvement in developing lung-directed gene therapy as a viable clinical entity. The driver in this instance is our involvement within the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium, a grouping of the leading gene therapists in the UK. This involvement contributed to a major UK initiative that culminated in the largest ever human gene therapy trial for this condition.

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