Spotlight on Dr Lamia Heikal
Research Fellow at Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Previous Research
As a child, growing up in Alexandria, Egypt, I always looked up to people working in the University, to scientists.
I studied Pharmacy for my undergraduate and master degrees in Egypt. I then came to the UK and started a family and completed a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science at Kings College London.
I secured a postdoc with my PhD supervisor researching cardiovascular disease. My second postdoc here at Sussex is perfect; I’m researching pharmacology and vascular biology, areas that I looked at near the end of my PhD.
Current Research
I’m currently looking at endothelial cells and how to repair them when they are damaged.
Endothelial cells are present on the inner walls of blood vessels and keep the vessels healthy. Through cardiovascular disease, these cells become damaged and don’t function properly. This can lead to side effects such as the deposition of fats in blood vessels which leads to the narrowing of the blood vessels, known as atherosclerosis.
Repairing these damaged cells is the key to effective treatment of cardiovascular disease.
To repair the cells we are using drugs called tissue protective cytokines (TPCs).
These drugs have been currently tested for cell repair, but because they are administered systemically (injected into the blood) and not targeted at the damaged cells instantly, they have side effects such as increase in red blood cells, hypertension and thrombosis (blood clots).
We have found that TPCs work more effectively at a low oxygen level.
Most other studies have conducted tests on these drugs and cell repair within incubators, where the oxygen level is 21%, however this doesn’t reflect the oxygen levels present within the human body. We have around 5% oxygen in the body and in cases of cardiovascular disease, where the narrowing of the arteries means less blood passing through, oxygen can be as low as 1%. Until now nobody has studied the effect of these drugs on cells within a low oxygen environment.
Through our work we have found that these compounds work at a concentration 100 times lower, within oxygen levels that mimic inside the body. This is very important because we now know that when we apply the drugs inside the body they will be more effective.
The aim of our study is novel; we know the drugs work more effectively within the body so we want to try to treat endothelial cell repair locally.
We will try to apply TPCs to act locally to treat cardiovascular disease, this will decrease side effects and achieve a more specific, targeted effect.
This treatment would treat the cause of the disease, rather than just the symptoms.
It should improve the health and lifestyle of people with cardiovascular disease or any other disease which requires treatment of damaged and injured cells and could also decrease costs for the NHS.
Achieving the PhD and securing my two post doc positions while having children is a real achievement for me.
Trying to find balance between your children and your research and feel satisfied with both, is something that is important. My colleagues ask me how I do this, but I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have children!
When there is a problem with my children, I put my research out of my mind. So when I return back to it after I’ve had a break, my thinking is fresh and I work better. You adapt yourself to the life you are in.
The Future
We have made a grant application in collaboration with the Brighton Regenerative Medicine Centre to further explore different platforms for endothelial cell repair. This collaboration is very important because it will help us to actually look at different biomaterials, loaded with the drugs and apply them in vivo to test if this is effective.
We are also looking to possibly collaborate with the pharmaceutical industry, to take our idea and test it.
I would like to continue with my research and in the future become a lecturer because I like teaching, it really helps you to communicate with different people.