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James Whiteford graduated from King’s College London with a degree in Applied Biology in 1994 and continued his studies at King’s to obtain his PhD in Molecular Microbiology in 1998. The focus of his PhD was the degradation of complex plant derived polysaccharides by micro-organisms in particular filamentous fungi. In 1999 he moved to Imperial College London to perform post -doctoral research in plant pathology and specifically on proteins important for the invasion of tomato plants by fungi. One of the key outcomes of this work was the design of a novel method for visualising fungal proteins during infection in vivo. Together these research experiences gave him a comprehensive knowledge of biochemistry and molecular genetics and he was able to apply this knowledge to alter research direction in his second post –doc to work in cell biology at the NHLI, Imperial College London in 2003. The work focused on the syndecan family of mammalian cell surface receptors and how these proteins affect cellular adhesion and migration. In 2007 Dr Whiteford moved to Copenhagen University to continue his work on syndecans and it was during this time he was awarded the Outstanding Young Investigator award (2008) from the Histochemical Society. Dr Whiteford joined the Centre for Microvascular Research in 2009 with the aim of looking at the role of syndecans in inflammatory scenarios and to this end obtained a 5 year Arthritis Research-UK Career Development Fellowship to fund this work.
Current research interests
Syndecans in inflammation: Dr Whiteford’s primary research interest is focused on cell adhesion regulatory regions contained within the extracellular core proteins of the syndecan family of extracellular matrix receptors. In particular he is interested in how these regions affect processes such as angiogenesis and inflammation in pathological conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. The work involves a combination of cell and molecular biology, advanced imaging, use of in vivo models and the elucidation of signalling pathways.
Key Publications
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Gopal, S., Bober, A., Whiteford, J.R., Multhaupt, H.A.B., Yoneda, A. and Couchman, J.R. (2010). Heparan sulfate chain valency controls syndecan-4 function in cell adhesion. Journal of Biological Chemistry (in press).
Multhaupt, H.A., Yoneda, A., Whiteford, J.R., Oh, E.S., Lee, W., Couchman, J.R. (2009). Syndecan signaling: when, where and why? Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 60 (Suppl 4),31-38.
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Okina, E., Manon-Jensen, T., Whiteford, J.R. and Couchman, J.R. (2009). Syndecan proteoglycan contributions to cytoskeletal organization and contractility. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 19, 479-89.
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Whiteford, J.R., Ko, S., Lee, W. and Couchman, J.R. (2008) Structural and cell adhesion properties of zebrafish syndecan-4 are shared with higher vertebrates. Journal of Biological Chemistry 283, 29322-29330.
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Alexopoulou, A., Couchman, J.R. and Whiteford, J.R. (2008). The CMV early enhancer/chicken β-actin promoter can be used to drive transgene expression during the differentiation of murine embryonic stem cells into vascular progenitors. BMC Cell Biology 9, 2.
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Whiteford, J.R., Behrends, V., Kirby, H., Kusche-Gullberg, M., Muramatsu, T. and Couchman, J.R. (2007) Syndecans promote integrin mediated adhesion in mesenchymal cells in two distinct pathways. Experimental Cell Research 313, 3902-3013.
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Whiteford, J.R. and Couchman, J.R. (2006). A conserved NXIP motif is required for cell adhesion properties of the syndecan-4 ectodomain. Journal of Biological Chemistry 281, 32156-32163.
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Koo, B-K., Jung, Y.S., Shin, J., Han, I., Mortier, E., Zimmermann, P., Whiteford, J.R., Couchman, J.R., Oh, E-S., and Lee, W. (2006). Structural basis of syndecan-4 phosphorylation as a molecular switch to regulate signalling. Journal of Molecular Biology 355, 651-663.
