After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Molecular Biology in 1993, I went on to study for a PhD with David Lane at Imperial College London. My early career was in haemostasis (regulation of blood clotting), with a particular focus on the protein C anticoagulant pathway and endothelial cell biology. In 2006, I joined the Macrophage Biology group at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (Imperial College London), changing my research field to study inflammatory signalling. I was appointed to the University of Surrey in 2011, after receiving an award from the Wellcome Trust. Research in my group focusses on the mechanism of action of mycolactone, the lipid-like immunosuppressive toxin of Buruli ulcer. Mycolactone has many unusual and fascinating biological functions, and in 2014 we identified its mechanism of action – as an inhibitor of protein translocation. We are now applying this knowledge to understand more about Buruli ulcer, a neglected tropical disease, and basic cell biology. Most recently, my early expertise in haemostasis allowed us to identify an important role for disordered blood clotting in Buruli ulcer.

As a molecular biologist, my research interests concern the molecular detail of the pathogenesis of different disease systems. My group specialises in the uncovering of “unusual” mechanisms of gene regulation in eukaryotic cells; as exemplified by our work studying mycolactone function. In order to understand this fully, we have had to (and to an extent still are) follow a trial of breadcrumbs through the fundamental concepts of molecular biology starting from gene transcription, through protein translation and on to protein fate.

Ogbechi J, Ruf MT, Hall BS, Bodman-Smith K, Vogel M, Wu HL, Stainer A, Esmon CT, Ahnström J, Pluschke G, Simmonds RE. (2015) 'Mycolactone-Dependent Depletion of Endothelial Cell Thrombomodulin Is Strongly Associated with Fibrin Deposition in Buruli Ulcer Lesions'. PLoS Pathogens, 11 (7) doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005011 Hall BS, Hill K, McKenna M, Ogbechi J, High S, Willis AE, Simmonds RE. (2014) 'The pathogenic mechanism of the Mycobacterium ulcerans virulence factor, mycolactone, depends on blockade of protein translocation into the ER.'. PLoS Pathog, United States: 10 (4) doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004061 Hall B, Simmonds R. (2014) 'Pleiotropic molecular effects of the Mycobacterium ulcerans virulence factor mycolactone underlying the cell death and immunosuppression seen in Buruli ulcer.'. Biochem Soc Trans, England: 42 (1), pp. 177-183. doi: 10.1042/BST20130133