About Us
The Centre for Precision Cell Therapy for the Liver (PRaCTicAL) brings together clinicians, researchers and experts across the fields of Liver disease, Diabetes, Pharmacology, Cell Therapy, Clinical manufacturing, translation and clinical trials, from a a network of organisations involved in research, translation cell therapy and clinical care: NHS Lothian, University of Edinburgh, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.
Professor Stuart Forbes
Director, Institute for Regeneration and Repair and Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Professor Stuart Forbes is a Consultant Hepatologist in the Scottish Liver Transplant Unit, the Professor of Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Institute of Regeneration and Repair.
Stuart’s work is focused on understanding regeneration of the liver and how these processes are affected in disease and injury. His research group aims to promote healthy liver regeneration and reduce the formation of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
Professor Marc Turner
Director, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
Professor Marc Turner is director of the Scottish National Blood transfusion Service and a Professor of Cellular Therapy at the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Turners research interests include prion disease transmission risk and the translation of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs).
Professor Shareen Forbes
Professor of Diabetic Medicine, University of Edinburgh
The main aim of Professor Shareen Forbes’ research is to help deliver cell therapies to people with Type 1 diabetes to cure the disease. Her lab group work on the pathogenesis of diabetes and the mechanisms behind beta cell dysregulation and how this contributes to clinical disease. Prof Forbes has a major research interest in clinical islet transplantation conducting research in this area in both non-clinical and human studies.
Professor James Dear
Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Edinburgh
Professor James Dear’s overall objective is to make medicines safer for patients. He focuses specifically on developing novel biomarkers for drug toxicity, which has great importance to both clinical patient care and commercial drug development. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the Western world. Professor Dear is developing novel treatments for those patients at high risk of liver failure, a group without effective treatments. This includes leading multi-centre trials of new first-in-class therapeutics and Advanced Therapies, such as cell therapy, to repair the injured liver.
Professor Jonathan Fallowfield
Chair of Translational Liver Research & Honorary Consultant Hepatologist, University of Edinburgh
Professor Fallowfield is an experienced clinician scientist and Principal Investigator at the University of Edinburgh.
Jonathan’s research interests span basic science and clinical trials, disease mechanisms and the development of new diagnostic tests and treatments for chronic liver disease. He is the clinical lead for ‘SteatoSITE’ – the world’s first data commons for NAFLD.
Dr Joanne Mountford
Associate Director, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service – Tissues, Cells and Advanced Therapies Development.
Dr Jo Mountford is Associate Director for Development in Tissue, Cells & Advanced Therapies (TCAT-DEV) at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Edinburgh.
As an experienced experimental haematologist and stem cell biologist, Jo’s focus is the assessment, development and translation of discovery science into robust, GMP-compatible processes suitable for manufacturing cell and regenerative therapies. Together TCAT-DEV and GMP work with academic and commercial partners throughout the development of a product from discovery to manufacturing for clinical use.
Dr Neil McGowan
Associate Director, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service – Tissues, Cells and Advanced Therapies GMP.
Dr Neil McGowan is responsible for the GMP translation, manufacture and QC of a range of tissues, cells and novel advanced therapeutics within HTA and MHRA-licensed facilities at both the SCRM and the Jack Copland Centre in Edinburgh. Relevant products include macrophage cell therapy as a potential treatment for liver cirrhosis/injury and pancreatic islet transplantation into the liver as a treatment for diabetes.
Dr Sofia Ferreira-Gonzalez
Chancellors Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Dr Ferreira-Gonzalez is a Chancellor's fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her research projects focus on the mechanisms of cellular senescence in disease and regeneration.
Her current research aims to find novel therapeutics to combat liver senescence (for example in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis), as well as developing novel biosignatures to define at point-of-care the quality of donor organs before transplantation.