Professional background

Professor David Lomas is vice provost (health), head of UCL school of life and medical sciences, head of UCL medical school and academic director of the UCL Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre since 2015.

He received his medical degree from the University of Nottingham and undertook his PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge.

David was an MRC clinician scientist, University Lecturer and professor of respiratory biology in Cambridge before moving to UCL in 2013 to be chair of medicine and dean of the faculty of medical sciences. He previously chaired the respiratory therapy area unit board at GlaxoSmithKline and was deputy chief executive of the Medical Research Council (UK).

David serves as deputy chair of the scientific advisory committee for Genomics England, is a non-executive director at University College London Hospitals, the Royal Free London Hospital, the Francis Crick Institute, the Africa Health Research Institute, the British Heart Foundation and MedCity Ltd. He is an elected member of the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an NIHR senior investigator.

Research interests

David’s research has focused on the pathobiology of antitrypsin deficiency, the serpinopathies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Publications

1. High-resolution ex vivo NMR spectroscopy of human Z 1-antitrypsin. A.M. Jagger, C.A. Waudby, J.A. Irving, J. Christodoulou and D.A. Lomas. Nat. Comms 2020; In press.

2. The molecular species responsible for ?1-antitrypsin deficiency are suppressed by a small molecule chaperone FEBS J. R. Ronzoni  J.A. Irving* and D.A. Lomas* 2020; FEBS J. In press. *joint senior authors.

3. The structure of Z 1-antitrypsin polymers in the liver. S.V. Faull, E.L.K. Elliston, B. Gooptu, A.M. Jagger, E.V. Orlova, J.A. Irving* and D.A. Lomas* The structure of Z ?1-antitrypsin polymers in the liver Science Advances 2020; In press. *joint senior authors.

4. The UCL Ventura CPAP device for COVID-19. M. Singer, R. Shipley, T. Baker, A. Cowell, D. Brealey, D. Lomas. Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Sep 21:S2213-2600(20)30422-7 (epub ahead of print).

5. Development of an orally bioavailable small molecule that corrects misfolding and increases secretion of Z alpha1-antitrypsin D.A. Lomas, J.A. Irving, C. Arico-Muendel, S. Belyanskaya, Z. Zhu and A.C. Pearce 2020; bioRxiv 10.1101/2020.07.26.217661 (pre-print server).

6. Intrahepatic heteropolymerization of M and Z alpha-1-antitrypsin. M. Laffranchi, E.L. Elliston, E. Miranda, J. Perez, R. Ronzoni, A.M. Jagger, N. Heyer-Chauhan, M.L. Brantly, A. Fra*, D.A. Lomas*, J.A. Irving*. JCI Insight. 2020; 5(14):135459. *joint senior authors.

7. Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency. P. Strnad, N.G. McElvaney, D.A Lomas. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(15):1443-1455.