Kimberley Wiggins

Supervisor: Murray Clarke

I am a PhD student on the British Heart Foundation 4-year programme in cardiovascular disease. I work in the Clarke group, who study how necrosis drives sterile inflammation and its implication in atherosclerosis and other vascular pathologies. A key driver of sterile inflammation is interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1α). I am interested in characterising how proteolysis activates IL-1α and what enzymes can do this. In addition, I am determining the functional consequences of IL-1α single nucleotide polymorphisms that are common within the population.