Dr Robert J Snelgrove

Dr Robert Snelgrove graduated from Imperial College London with a degree in Biochemistry, receiving the C. Ewart Sticking's award for excellence in Biochemistry and was subsequently awarded a scholarship to undertake an MRes in Biochemical Research at Imperial College London.  Dr Snelgrove took up a PhD within the group of Professor Tracy Hussell at the Centre of Molecular Microbiology and Infection / Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College London. The focus of these studies was to investigate the potential to manipulate myeloid cells to modulate immune protection and immunopathology in respiratory infections. He enjoyed significant success, obtaining 11 peer-reviewed publications, including a first author manuscript in Nature Immunology.

In 2007, Dr Snelgrove was awarded the inaugural Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Wellcome Trust. This prestigious and highly competitive award provides support for research scientists at an early stage of their career. In 2008, Dr Snelgrove took his fellowship to work within the laboratory of Professor J. Edwin Blalock at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), investigating the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) breakdown products in neutrophil recruitment during influenza infection. He discovered a novel anti-inflammatory pathway whereby the enzyme leukotriene A4 Hydrolase (LTA4H) degrades an ECM-derived neutrophil chemoattractant (the tripeptide proline-glycine-proline; PGP) and limits neutrophilic inflammation. This work was published in Science; a manuscript for which he is first and corresponding author.

In 2010, Dr Snelgrove relocated to the Leukocyte Biology section of the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College to initiate an environment capable of progressing his studies independently and was subsequently awarded a Career Development Award by the Wellcome Trust. Dr Snelgrove’s current research focuses on his paradigm shifting studies that detailed the previously unknown extracellular peptidase activity of the enzyme LTA4H. The classical role of LTA4H is as a hydrolase in the intracellular generation of the pro-inflammatory neutrophil chemoattractant leukotriene B4 (LTB4). Therefore LTA4H is an enzyme with opposing pro-inflammatory (LTB4 generation) and anti-inflammatory (PGP degradation) roles, and the expression and relative activities of this enzyme will be critical in dictating the amplitude and persistence of neutrophilic inflammation. LTA4H inhibitors have received significant clinical interest to reduce LTB4 and alleviate immune mediated pathologies, but may inadvertently prevent PGP degradation with dangerous repercussions. His research seeks to further dissect the opposing roles of LTA4H in dictating neutrophilic inflammation and develop novel therapeutic strategies.

Dr Snelgrove has been awarded a prize for his work from the Clinical Immunology and Allergy section of the Royal Society of Medicine and was recently selected as one of around five hundred of the best young researchers around the world to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting; a prestigious event that provides a forum for the best young scientists to discuss their research with like minded individuals and Nobel Laureates. He routinely peer reviews manuscripts for journals including PLOSone, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Immunology, Thorax and The European Journal of Pharmacology and grants for The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Dr Snelgrove is extremely keen to promote an enthusiasm and understanding of scientific research both to aspiring scientists and the general public as a whole. He has been responsible for the supervision of several undergraduate, MSc and graduate students’ research projects, supervised undergraduate student practicals and taught undergraduate students. He is routinely invited to present his work at academic institutes and international conferences. He has given presentations at schools, helped organise a workshop at Imperial College with Exscitec to introduce school children to scientific research, and a two day demonstration at the Science Museum on immunity and vaccination. Whilst in the US, he spoke at a Children’s Health Informative Meeting detailing his work to a clinical audience that work with respiratory disease in infants with the aim of promoting translational research. He has written two magazine articles for distribution amongst medical, technological and business operatives to facilitate understanding about his area of research. He has also actively facilitated the dissemination of his research through press releases and interviews with press organisations that have led to global press coverage.