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Dr Simon Calaminus

Senior Lecturer

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Hull York Medical School

Qualifications

  • BSc
  • PhD / DPhil

Summary

I completed my PhD in Platelet Biology from 2004-2007 at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Professor Steve Watson. During this time I specialised in the platelet actin cytoskeleton and worked alongside Professor Laura Machesky to identify the actin structure, the actin nodule within platelets.

I then worked as a post doctoral scientist for Professor Laura Machesky at the Beatson Institute in Glasgow from 2007-2012. Here I worked both with megakaryocytes to identify the role of podosomes, and also with cancer cells understanding the role of the Wash complex within receptor recycling.

In 2012 I moved to the University of Hull as a lecturer, where I was promoted to senior lecturer in 2018.

I am the programme director for the MSc in Pharmacology and Drug Development in HYMS. This provides students with not only the opportunity to delve deeply into Pharmacology but to do this alongside external experts from industry and the NHS to ensure students get a full understanding of the role and power of pharmacology

I teach Phase 1 MBBS students and Biomedical Science Pharmacology in a lecture and seminar format

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

PEGylation of indium phosphide quantum dots prevents quantum dot mediated platelet activation

Naylor-Adamson, L., Price, T. W., Booth, Z., Leonard, S. V. L., Gallo, J., Tung, L. D., Harvell-Smith, S., Thi Kim Thanh, N., Aslam, Z., Allsup, D., Hondow, N., Chamberlain, T., Schneider, J. E., Naseem, K., Bouillard, J. S. G., Stasiuk, G. J., & Calaminus, S. D. (in press). PEGylation of indium phosphide quantum dots prevents quantum dot mediated platelet activation. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, https://doi.org/10.1039/d4tb01334d

α-Synuclein Deletion Impairs Platelet Function: A Role for SNARE Complex Assembly

Sennett, C., Jia, W., Khalil, J. S., Hindle, M. S., Coupland, C., Calaminus, S. D., Langer, J. D., Frost, S., Naseem, K. M., Rivero, F., Ninkina, N., Buchman, V., & Aburima, A. (2024). α-Synuclein Deletion Impairs Platelet Function: A Role for SNARE Complex Assembly. Cells, 13(24), Article 2089. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells13242089

Microplastics in human blood: Polymer types, concentrations and characterisation using μFTIR

Leonard, S. V. L., Liddle, C. R., Atherall, C. A., Chapman, E., Watkins, M., Calaminus, S. D. J., & Rotchell, J. M. (2024). Microplastics in human blood: Polymer types, concentrations and characterisation using μFTIR. Environment International, 188, Article 108751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2024.108751

Quantum Dot Imaging Agents: Haematopoietic Cell Interactions and Biocompatibility

Naylor-Adamson, L., Price, T. W., Booth, Z., Stasiuk, G. J., & Calaminus, S. D. (2024). Quantum Dot Imaging Agents: Haematopoietic Cell Interactions and Biocompatibility. Cells, 13(4), Article 354. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells13040354

Impact of Surface Ligand on the Biocompatibility of InP/ZnS Quantum Dots with Platelets

Gil, H. M., Booth, Z., Price, T. W., Lee, J., Naylor‐Adamson, L., Avery, M., Muravitskaya, A., Hondow, N., Allsup, D., Schneider, J. E., Naseem, K., Adawi, A. M., Bouillard, J. S. G., Chamberlain, T. W., Calaminus, S. D., & Stasiuk, G. J. (in press). Impact of Surface Ligand on the Biocompatibility of InP/ZnS Quantum Dots with Platelets. Small, Article 2304881. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202304881

Research interests

The Calaminus lab investigates how platelets respond and activate to a range of different agonists and inhibitors to fully understand the range of functions that platelet complete within the body. To do this we use a range of assays: platelet spreading, in vitro thrombus formation, FACs analysis, western blotting and platelet aggregation.

We aim to not only understand how platelet respond to natural environments, but also how addition of external pollutants such as microplastics then affect and disturb these environments leading to platelet dysfunction.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Effect of hypoxia on prostacyclin-mediated inhibition of platelet function

Funder

British Heart Foundation

Grant

£110,353.00

Started

1 January 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Microplastics as an emerging and iatrogenic threat in the healthcare setting

Funder

Rosetrees Trust

Grant

£9,277.00

Started

1 April 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

Is zinc a critical modulator of cyclic nucleotide signalling?

Funder

British Heart Foundation

Grant

£108,740.00

Started

1 October 2019

Status

Complete

Project

Matrix Metalloproteinase Activated Multimodal 'Theranostic' Drug Delivery Imaging Agents For Thrombosis

Funder

MRC Medical Research Council

Grant

£220,267.00

Started

1 March 2020

Status

Complete

Project

Platelet cAMP signalling controls thrombosis through enhanced embolisation

Funder

British Heart Foundation

Grant

£106,467.00

Started

1 October 2015

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

RISE: Establishing super-Resolution Imaging in Hull for impactful multimorbidity ReSEarch MRC Equipment bid 2024 - Confocal Imaging ZEISS Elyra 7 with Lattice SIM²

Funder

MRC Medical Research Council

Grant

£718,262.00

Started

1 October 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

TARGETING THE MYOSIN LIGHT CHAIN PHOSPHATASE WITH PEPTIDE DISRUPTORS: A NOVEL ANTIPLATELET THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

Funder

British Heart Foundation

Grant

£110,680.00

Started

3 July 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Wolfson Equipment bid 2023 - Confocal Imaging ZEISS Elyra 7 with Lattice SIM²

Funder

Wolfson Foundation

Grant

£500,000.00

Started

1 October 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

ThrombiGlow: ‘Smart’ Multimodal Platelet Specific ‘Theranostic’ Drug Delivery Imaging

Funder

British Heart Foundation

Grant

£107,146.00

Started

1 February 2017

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Platelet Biology

If self funded students wish to approach me to investigate the possibility of completing a PhD, then please email me directly using simon.calaminus@hyms.ac.uk

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