Contact details

Professor Sara M Rankin

Professor of Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology
National Heart & Lung Institute

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 3172
Email: Email address for Professor Sara M Rankin

Professor Sara M Rankin

Sara Rankin is Professor of Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

Professor Rankin obtained a first class Hons Degree and PhD in Pharmacology from Kings College, London. She then undertook postdoctoral positions in the Department of Medicine, UCSD, and at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK).

Professor Rankin joined the Leukocyte Biology Section of the Institute in 1995 with a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award. She subsequently obtained a Wellcome Trust University award and is now a Professor in Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology.

Her research focuses on understanding the impact of the bone marrow in inflammatory diseases and elucidating the molecular mechanisms regulating the exit of leukocytes and stem cells from the bone marrow.

Current research areas include:

• Neutrophil clearance by the bone marrow.
• Molecular mechanisms regulating the mobilisation of haematopoietic, endothelial and mesenchymal progenitor cells.
• Trafficking of mesenchymal stem cells in vivo.
• The role of endothelial progenitor cells in angiogenesis in models of allergic airways inflammation.

Professor Rankin currently holds grants from the Wellcome Trust, The European Commission, the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council and Industrial collaborators.

She was awarded her Certificate in Advanced Studies in Learning and Teaching in 2001. She is a postgraduate tutor and Deputy Head of Postgraduate studies for NHLI. Professor Rankin is the Institute lead for Outreach and is involved in a variety of public engagement and outreach activities. Professor Rankin is on the Education Committee for the British Pharmacological Society and is a Fellow of the Society of Biology.

Finally, Professor Rankin is involved in the organisation of the following meetings:

The Neutrophil in Immunity, Quebec 2012
Pharmacology of stem cell research & regenerative medicine, in association with the BPS Winter Meeting (Programme )

Selected Publications

Journals

Rankin SM. (Aug 2010). The bone marrow: a site of neutrophil clearance. J Leukoc Biol. 88:241-251. DOI.
Jones CP; Pitchford SC; Lloyd CM; Rankin SM. (Dec 2009). CXCR2 mediates the recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells during allergic airways remodeling. Stem Cells. 27:3074-3081. DOI.
Pitchford SC; Furze RC; Jones CP; Wengner AM; Rankin SM. (9 Jan 2009). Differential mobilization of subsets of progenitor cells from the bone marrow. Cell Stem Cell. 4:62-72. DOI.
Wengner AM; Pitchford SC; Furze RC; Rankin SM. (10 Oct 2007). The co-ordinated action of G-CSF and ELR+CXC chemokines in neutrophil mobilisation during acute inflammation. Blood. DOI.
Martin C; Burdon PC; Bridger G; Gutierrez-Ramos JC; Williams TJ; Rankin SM. (Oct 2003). Chemokines acting via CXCR2 and CXCR4 control the release of neutrophils from the bone marrow and their return following senescence. Immunity. 19:583-593.