Mr James Buckley

After studying Pharmacology at the University of Southampton for his undergradaute degree, James joined the group in May 2008 originally to complete an MRes project looking at the role that aerobic oxygen capacity plays in the susceptiblilty of individuals to inflammatory disease of the airways (specifically asthma). 

For finishing with the highest overall mark in his year, James was awarded the Brenda Ryman Centenary Prize.  Following the successful completion of the project, James stayed on to undertake a PhD with the group.  The focus/subject area addressed by the PhD is the role that individual prostanoid receptors play in both regulating airway smooth muscle tone and in controlling inflammatory cytokine release/inflammation in general.  This is because both of these properties (i.e relaxing airway smooth muscle & attenuating inflammation) would be desirable attributes for potential new drugs used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.  There is a particular need for new drugs of this kind as the current set of drugs (i.e. corticosteroids and long acting beta agonists) are associated with significant side effects and a subset of patients respond poorly to these conventional therapies.  The fact that the NHS currently spends over £1 billion treating the 5 million people with asthma in the U.K. demonstrates the huge demand and market there is for new, effective drugs.