Andrew Devitt, PhD

Andrew is an inflammatory cell biologist and over the last 25 years his research has focused on the innate immune system and its role in protection, tissue repair and wound healing – features that become impaired with ageing. He studies how specialist immune cells (i.e. phagocytes such as macrophages) recognise dying (apoptotic) cells and specifically the molecular mechanisms of cell communication in this clearance. Current work is now focused on defining the mechanisms by which cells communicate via extracellular vesicles (EV). This current work is revealing novel EV structure-function relationships that underpin the repair, regeneration and wound healing capacity of EV from both apoptotic and viable cells, including mesenchymal stem cells.