School of Infection & Immunity

Professor Rob Snelgrove

• Professor of Respiratory Science (Imperial College London)
• Location: Level 2 Common Room, Sir Graeme Davies Building

Title: Our evolving view of neutrophils in defining the pathology of chronic lung diseases

Synopsis:

Neutrophils are critical components of the body's immune response to infection, being loaded with a potent arsenal of toxic mediators and displaying immense destructive capacity. Given the potential of neutrophils to impart extensive tissue damage, it is perhaps not surprising that these cells are also implicated in the pathology of inflammatory diseases. Prominent neutrophilic inflammation is a hallmark feature of patients with chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and severe asthma, with their numbers frequently associating with worse prognosis. Accordingly, it is anticipated that neutrophils are central to the pathology of these diseases and represent an attractive therapeutic target. However, therapeutics that have looked to reduce neutrophilic inflammation in the clinic have frequently proved largely disappointing. In this seminar, I will describe pathways that govern pulmonary neutrophilic inflammation in the context of chronic lung disease, whilst defining their ensuing role in disease pathology and rationalising why previous efforts to therapeutically target these cells have been disappointing. Subsequently, I will consider how our evolving view of neutrophils, with increasing recognition of their heterogeneity and pleiotropic functionality, can alter our perception of their contributions to disease pathology and delineate novel strategies to therapeutically target them.

Bio:

Rob Snelgrove is a Professor of Respiratory Science based at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He graduated from Imperial College London with a BSc in Biochemistry and an MRes in Biochemical Research, before undertaking a PhD within the group of Professor Tracy Hussell at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. He was subsequently awarded an inaugural Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, which he spent within the laboratory of Professor J. Edwin Blalock at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He then returned to the UK and Imperial College London where he has been awarded a Career Development Fellowship and a Senior Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust, whilst attracting additional substantial funding from research councils, charities and industrial collaborative awards. His group are interested in pathways that drive inflammation and remodeling in chronic lung disease, with a specific interest in neutrophil and extracellular matrix biology. To dissect these pathways, his team use complex animal models, primary human cells and patient samples. he currently serves as an Associate Editor for The American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine and has recently been a member of the Wellcome Trust Advisory Group for Career Development and Discovery Awards and Chair of European Respiratory Society Allergy and Immunology Group.

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First published: 19 August 2025