We are pleased to welcome Gerard Graham as our new Immunology Subject Editor for Open Biology.
We recently spoke with our new Subject Editor, Professor Gerard Graham, about his background and advice for authors as he joins the editorial board. Professor Graham is Dean of Research and Professor of Immunology at the University of Glasgow, where he leads the Chemokine Research Group. With over 30 years’ experience in chemokine biology, he has been responsible for many seminal discoveries in the field.
What is your research background?
I study chemokines and their receptors. Chemokines are the principal in-vivo regulators of leukocyte migration and are expressed at inflamed sites and at specific locations within secondary lymphoid organs. Their interaction with a subfamily of GPCRs, which are expressed by leukocytes, ensures that leukocytes navigate to their specific, and appropriate, in vivo destinations. Chemokines and their receptors are therefore central to the recruitment of inflammatory cells to inflamed sites in response to a diverse range of tissue insults and they are also important in orchestrating cellular movement and positioning during adaptive immune responses. My specific interests lie in using in vivo modelling, along with cell and molecular biology approaches, to determine the fundamental mechanisms of action of chemokines and their receptors and to delineate their specific roles in innate and adaptive immune responses.
What drew you to this field?
Serendipity really! Many years ago, I was studying inhibitors of haematopoietic stem cell proliferation and through these studies identified one of the prototypic members of the chemokine family. From that point on my group cloned a number of chemokines and chemokine receptors and in particular we have championed the field of atypical chemokine receptor (ACKR) biology. What has been a real joy for me is that I have been able to explore the roles for chemokines, and their receptors, in a broad range of biological processes. Our principal interests lie in their roles in inflammation, but we have also studied them in stem cell biology, developmental biology, placental biology and pathology particularly cancer and autoimmune diseases.
What advice would you give to prospective authors?
Always tell story and construct your manuscripts with a reader in mind who is not necessarily interested in your field. The easier a paper is to read more likely it will gain traction beyond your immediate field and, given the massive numbers of papers and the huge competition for readers’ attention, this is very important. The second thing is, and this is an obvious one I guess, always approach every part of a manuscript with absolute and unwavering integrity.
Image credit: Gerry Graham, University of Glasgow
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