Home| Professor of Cutaneous Biology |
| Lead, Centre for Cutaneous Research |
Contact details:
| Tel: | +44 20 7882 7162 |
| Fax: | +44 20 7882 7171 |
| Email: | m.p.philpott@qmul.ac.uk |
| Address: |
Centre for Cutaneous Research, |
Biography
I obtained my BSc in Marine Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Wales , Bangor in 1986 and my DPhil in Molecular Medicine from the University of Oxford in 1989. The title of my thesis was 'Studies on isolated hair follicles' from which I published on the in vitro culture and growth of human hair follicles now referred to as the 'Philpott model'. I continued my research into hair follicle biology at the University of Cambridge from 1989 until 1996. I was appointed to a lectureship at Barts and The London in 1996. Promoted to senior lecturer in 1999, Reader in 2003 and Professor of Cutaneous Biology in 2005. I am currently Centre lead for the Centre for Cutaneous Research within the Institute of Cell and Molecular Sciences. My research interests include hair biology, steroidogenesis and sebocyte differentiation and the role of hedgehog signalling and Gli transcription factors in the development of basal cell carcinoma.
Research Activity
The main focus of my groups' research activity is based around understanding the biology of the human hair follicle. In particular we are interested in the role of growth factors and signaling molecules in controlling proliferation and differentiation. The mainstay of our research has been the in vitro human hair growth model I developed as a PhD student. This is now termed the 'Philpott model' This model is considered the 'gold standard' human hair growth model and used by groups internationally both in academia and industry and has attracted significant industrial funding to my group from companies in both the UK , Europe and US. In addition to studying the hair follicle my group are also interested in the biology of the sebaceous gland and more recently in the skin and hair follicle as steroidogenic tissues i.e. tissues that can synthesis steroids from cholesterol. Localised steroid production in skin has significant implications in terms of skin disease, inflammation etc. From my interest in hair biology my group have also moved into the field of non melonama skin cancer (NMSC) and in particular understanding basal cell carcinoma (BCC). BCC is though to be derived from hair follicle stem cells and the main mutational defect is in the sonic hedgehog(SHh) signaling pathway. SHh is known to be involved in hair follicle development and subsequent control of adult hair follicle biology. We have focused on understanding the role of Gli transcription factors in keratinocyte biology and investigating potential oncogenic mechanisms of Gli. My research has been funded by MRC, Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, Research Advisory Board of the special trustees of Barts and The London, AICR, EU, Unilever, Pfizer, Henkel and Genencor.
Key Publications
• Philpott MP , Green MR and Kealey T. Human hair growth in vitro. J Cell Sci 97 : 463- 471, 1990.
• Philpott MP and Kealey T. Effects of EGF on the morphology and patterns of DNA synthesis in isolated human hair follicles. J Invest Dermatol 102 : 186-191, 1994.
• Philpott MP , Sanders DA, Kealey T. Effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factors on human hair follicles: IGF-I at physiologic concentrations is an important regulator of hair follicle growth in vitro . J Invest Dermatol 102 : 857-861, 1994
• Philpott MP , Sanders DA, Bowen J, Kealey T. Effects of interleukins, colony stimulating factor and tumour necrosis factor on human hair follicle growth in vitro: a possible role for interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor- a in alopecia areata. Br J Derm 135 : 942-948, 1996.
• Bull JJ. Muller-Rover S. Patel SV. Chronnell CM. McKay IA. Philpott MP . Contrasting localization of c-Myc with other Myc superfamily transcription factors in the human hair follicle and during the hair growth cycle. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 116 : 617-22, 2001.
• Teh M-Y, Wong S-T, Neill GW, Ghali LR, Leigh IM, Philpott MP , Quinn AG. FOXM1 is a downstream target of Gli1 signaling in basal cell carcinoma Cancer Res 62 : 4773-4780, 2002.
• Neill GW, Ghali LR, Green JL, Ikram MS, Philpott MP , Quinn AG. Loss of PKCa expression may enhance the tumourigenic potential of Gli1 in basal cell carcinoma. Cancer Res. 63(15):4692-7, 2003
• L.Ghali, S-T Wong, N.Tidman, A.Quinn, M.P.Philpott , I.M.Leigh Epidermal and hair follicle progenitor cells express melanoma associated chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (MCSP). J Invest Dermatol: 122(2):433-42, 2004.
• Kasper M, Schnidar H, Neill GW, Hanneder M, Klingler S, Blaas L, Schmid C, Hauser-Kronberger C, Regl G, Philpott MP , Aberger F. Selective modulation of Hedgehog/GLI target gene expression by epidermal growth factor signaling in human keratinocytes. Mol Cell Biol. 2006 Aug;26(16):6283-98
• Muy-Teck Teh, Irene M. Leigh, David P. Kelsell and Michael P. Philpott. A Role of Non-Canonical Wnt16 in Human Epidermal Keratinocyte Proliferation and Differentiation. J Cell Science 2007 Jan 15;120(Pt 2):330-9.
• Bahta AW, Farjo N, Farjo B, Philpott MP. Premature Senescence of
Balding Dermal Papilla Cells In Vitro Is Associated with p16(INK4a)
Expression. J Invest Dermatol. 2007 Nov 8; [Epub ahead of print]
>> Publications since 2001
