Professor David Lomas is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Although alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency deficiency was first described in 1963, it was David Lomas who in a seminal publication in 1992 described the mechanism by which this protein is retained within the liver to cause cirrhosis. This involves a newly discovered type of protein-protein interaction termed loop-sheet polymerisation. This finding has had wide implications for other diseases characterised by beta strand linkage. These include Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and the prion encephalopathies. These diseases may be grouped together as the conformational diseases and might be amenable to treatment with beta strand blockers.
Fellow
Back to directory listingProfessor David Lomas FMedSci
Job Title
Vice Provost (Health) and Head of UCL Medical School
Department
School of Life and Medical Sciences
Institution
University College London (UCL)
Year elected
2001
Interests
Specialitiesrespiratory medicine, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, antitrypsin deficiency, serpinopathies, conformational diseases
Section committee elected byMedical and veterinary specialties and paediatrics
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