Dr Michael Robson
Telephone 020 7188 6768
Email: michael.robson@kcl.ac.uk
MRC Centre for Transplantation
King's College London
5th Floor Tower Wing
Guys' Hospital
London SE1 9RT
Current appointment
Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist
About Dr Michael Robson
Michael Robson’s PhD was in experimental glomerulonephritis at Imperial College in 2000. After completing his clinical training, he came to King’s College London in 2002 as a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow and honorary Consultant Nephrologist, followed by a Senior Lecturer appointment. He divides his time between clinical renal medicine and research into glomerulonephritis. Clinical interests include ANCA-associated vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
Research interests
Glomerulonephritis is a common cause of irreversible renal failure leading to the need for dialysis and transplantation. We aim to discover the fundamental causes of these diseases, in addition to the mechanisms that mediate renal inflammation. Our basic research program has used experimental models of glomerulonephritis to explore these mechanisms. In recent years we have dissected the role of the innate immune system and in particular how Toll-like receptors interact with the adaptive immune system and lead to tissue damage. We have also explored the role of specific IgG subclasses and Fc receptors in glomerular inflammation.
We are currently developing a specific interest in one form of glomerulonephritis, namely anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis (AAV). The figure below shows a glomerulus that has undergone fibrinoid necrosis and crescent formation, as would be seen in AAV. We are pursuing research based both on experimental models of AAV and on patient samples. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is one of the major autoantigens in AAV and a model of AAV based on the knockout mouse has been published by others. We are using both this model and other novel systems to dissect both the mechanisms of capillary injury and the origin of autoimmunity in AAV. We are also collecting blood samples from newly presenting patients with AAV in order to examine how their white blood cells differ from controls, and to develop new markers of disease activity.
Publications and reviews
A list of Dr Robson's pulications and reviews can be found on the PubMed website.