Dr Juma El-Awaisi

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

j.elawaisi@bham.ac.uk

Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham

Scientific Background

Research Interests

Our group investigates how the immune system and blood vessels interact during heart attack (myocardial infarction, MI) and chronic lung disease (COPD), two leading causes of death worldwide. We focus on how immune cells (neutrophils) and clotting cells (platelets) behave in the smallest blood vessels and how the endothelium becomes activated, driving microvascular “traffic jams”, tissue injury, and impaired recovery. My group uses a combination of preclinical models, intravital microscopy, laser speckle imaging, flow cytometry, tissue imaging and human samples to study these processes in real time and across disease settings. In mouse models of myocardial infarction and COPD, we quantify immune-cell behaviour, including speed, adhesion, dwell time and aggregate formation, and relate these to endothelial activation, vascular dysfunction and organ injury. Alongside this, we integrate patient blood and tissue samples to ensure that our experimental findings remain closely aligned with clinically relevant disease mechanisms

Research Groups

Inflammation Biology Group

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Supportive, goal-driven and student-centred.

Provision of Training

I take responsibility for supporting your initial training and will work with you until you are confident and competent in the key techniques required for your project. As you develop, I will encourage you to design and carry out experiments more independently, while continuing to provide guidance, troubleshooting and support through an open-door approach.

Progression Monitoring and Management

At the start, we will agree a clear plan with realistic goals, training needs and milestones that work around your development and the needs of the project. As you become more independent, I will expect you to take increasing ownership of your work, while we continue to review progress regularly, address challenges early and adjust the plan where needed.

Communication

The team has a WhatsApp group for regular communication during the working week and within working hours. I am usually reachable during the week and have an open-door policy, so students are encouraged to contact me if they need advice, troubleshooting or wider support.

Meetings

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me at least once per week. These meetings will be a mixture of face-to-face and via video chat or telephone. I am usually contactable for an instant response (if required) on every working day.

Work Patterns

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 weeks’ notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Primary supervisor for:

Mapping immune organotropism: how inflammation in one organ targets another

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Mapping immune organotropism: how inflammation in one organ targets another

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Laura Bravo Merodio

University of Registration: University of Birmingham

BBSRC Research Themes:

Understanding the Rules of Life (Immunology, Systems Biology)

Project Outline

When one organ becomes inflamed, immune cells leave it and enter the bloodstream. Some distant organs are then injured while others, supplied by the very same blood, are spared. Why the immune system targets some organs and not others is unknown. This is a fundamental gap in how we understand the immune system as a whole-body system.

We propose that the destination is not random but written in molecular code. A distinct population of neutrophils, the immune system's first responders, leaves the inflamed lung carrying particular surface receptors, and only blood vessels displaying a matching molecular address will capture them.

The student will be the first to watch this happen in real-time. Using photoconvertible Kaede mice, in which a flash of violet light permanently changes the colour of cells in the lung, they will tag immune cells at their point of origin, then use live intravital microscopy of the beating heart, kidney and liver to see where they arrive and what they do there. Inflammation is produced by a defined airway challenge, then by a second and mechanistically distinct challenge, to ask whether the rule generalises.

Aims:

Establish photoconversion tracking and measure where tagged cells travel.
Define the vascular address code by comparing receptor profiles in organs that receive cells and organs that do not.
Define the traveller by profiling gene expression in cells that left the lung against those that stayed.
Predict computationally which receptor pairs matter, then block the leading candidate to test causality.

The student will train in intravital microscopy, photoconversion, spectral flow cytometry, single-cell RNA sequencing, image analysis, network modelling and machine learning, joining an established laboratory in which the licences, mouse lines, platforms and funding are already in place. Banked patient samples and single-cell data are also available. The rules they define will apply wherever inflammation spreads between organs.

Co-supervisor on a project / projects with