Aimee Ruffle

Within the Gene Medicine research group, I am investigating the opportunities for treating surfactant deficiencies. Surfactant is a mixture of proteins and lipids which coats the air-liquid interface of the alveolar region of the lungs, where it lowers surface tension and prevent the lungs from collapsing. Mutations in several key proteins involved in this process, results in a deficiency in the lung surfactant, and can have serious effects on lung function and life expectancy. With disease-causing mutations currently unresponsive to treatment there remains a need for new therapeutic approaches. Our lab is interested in correcting these defects at a genetic level, with the potential to treat surfactant deficiency in babies and young children and to potentially offer a lifelong cure to patients.

Before moving to Oxford in 2019, I obtained an MPharmacol (Hons) in Pharmacology with Professional Placement from the University of Bath. As part of this, I spent one year at MedImmune (Cambridge) developing in vivo optical imaging platforms to investigate tumour pharmacodynamics.