Doug Forrester

About me

I trained in Medicine (BMedSci, BMBS University of Nottingham) after studying physiology (BSc) at King’s College London. Following early clinical jobs at Nottingham I became a Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine in the Trent (now East midlands workforce) deanery before beginning my research in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) supported by Prof. Alan Knox and Dr Andrew Fogarty. I have worked on a number of clinical trials in CF with funding from industry, The CF Foundation (US) and MRC and have become increasingly interested in mechanisms of infection in this disease. My Wellcome Fellowship will explore the clinical importance of quorum sensing diversity in the CF lung.
Aside from work I spend my time cycling, running (slower and slower), trying to tame the weeds in our garden and buying random stuff from eBay. I am married to Jo with whom I enjoy wine tasting, walking and occasionally riding tandem.

Current research

Glutamine in CF
Evidence suggests glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid depleted in states of stress, notably during periods of elevated metabolic demand such as prolonged exercise or infection. Airway surface fluid and neutrophils of CF patients are deficient in glutathione, a key amino acid in redox balance, a precursor of which is glutamine. Glutamine supplementation reduced respiratory symptoms after exercise in a blinded trial and has been shown to reduce pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in a number of models. In collaboration with Leicester and Birmingham Heartlands we (CI=Andrew Fogarty) are currently recruiting in a double-blind randomised controlled trial of glutamine supplementation in CF using inflammatory markers in induced sputum as the primary endpoint.

Neutrophils / sTREM-1 in CF
There is increasing evidence of fundamental differences between neutrophils harvested from patients with CF and “normal” controls. I am looking at a number of parameters of neutrophil function and novel assays and the effects that antibiotics, supplements and harvesting may have on these.
Exploring the Clinical Potential of Quorum Sensing Molecules as Novel Biomarkers for Airway Infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa  - follow link MRC Biomarker Study