Professor Nicholas Pugh

Nick Pugh is Faculty Director of Research and Innovation, with a remit that covers research and income generation. He teaches on the BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science degree course and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. His research interests primarily concern the regulation of platelet function during blood clotting, however he maintains interests in autoimmunity, cell biology, molecular biology, and pedagogy.

[email protected]

Background

Nick gained his PhD at Imperial College, London in 2003 in the laboratory of Prof Alan Williams, working on the pore structure of the cardiac Ryanodine Receptor. Following this, he went on to work as a postdoctoral research scientist at the Babraham Institute (2003-2005) with Dr Geoffrey Butcher on a project investigating the GIMAP family of GTPases.

He was then employed as a postdoctoral research associate by Prof Richard Farndale at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (2005-2013). He joined ARU in 2013 as a senior lecturer, was appointed Deputy Head of Department in 2016, Deputy Head of School in 2018, Reader in 2020, and Associate Professor in 2020. In 2024 Nick became a Professor and accepted the role of Faculty Director of Research and Innovation.

Nick's current research into platelet activation has been supported by the British Heart Foundation.

Research interests

Nick's research interests primarily concern the signalling mechanisms used by platelets during pathophysiological thrombus formation. He is particularly interested in the role of zinc as extracellular and intracellular signalling molecules.

Current research projects include:

• The role of zinc as a physiologically relevant platelet agonist
• The role of zinc as a secondary messenger in platelets and other cells
• Investigation of autoantibody responses in autoimmune patients and healthy individuals
• Quantification of platelet behaviour during thrombus formation in flowing blood
• Development of novel molecular tools to study platelet signalling processes

Areas of research supervision

Nick is happy to consider applications from prospective PhD students in the field of platelet function. Candidates will need to be trained in venepuncture, and have experience in working with human blood.

Teaching

BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science
Module Leader for Preparation for Research

Qualifications

• PhD, University of London
• BSc (Hons), University of Southampton

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
• Member of the Platelet Society
• Member of the International Society of Zinc Biology
• Member of the European Peptide Society
• Member of the British Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis
• Guest editor of the International Journal of Medical Sciences for a Special Issue, 'New Concepts in Platelet Activation and Thrombus Formation'
• Guest editor of the Journal of Visualised Experiments (JoVE)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

2023-2026. British Heart Foundation Studentship. Investigation of the mechanisms and significance of degranulation-dependent Zn2+ release following platelet activation

2019-2021. British Heart Foundation project grant. Investigation of the mechanisms and significance of secondary zinc messaging platelets

2014-2018. British Heart Foundation project grant. Investigation of the physiological role of zinc in platelet activation during thrombus formation

2016. Wellcome Trust Summer studentship

Selected recent publications

Kuravi, S. J., Ahmed, N. S., Taylor, K. A., Capes, E. M., Bye, A., Unsworth, A. J., Gibbins, J. M. and Pugh, N. (2023) 'Delineating Zinc Influx Mechanisms during Platelet Activation', Int J Mol Sci, 24(14), 11689.

Ahmed, N. S., Lopes-Pires, M. E. and Pugh, N. 'Zinc: an endogenous and exogenous regulator of platelet function during hemostasis and thrombosis', Platelets. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2020.1840540

Lopes-Pires, M. E., Ahmed, N. S., Vara, D., Gibbins, J. M., Pula, G. and Pugh, N. (2020) 'Zinc regulates reactive oxygen species generation in platelets', Platelets. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2020.1742311

Ahmed, N. S., Lopes Pires, M. E., Taylor, K. A. and Pugh, N. (2019) 'Agonist-Evoked Increases in Intra-Platelet Zinc Couple to Functional Responses', Thromb Haemost, 119(1), pp. 128-139.

Burzynski, L. C., Pugh, N. and Clarke, M. C. (2019) 'Platelet Isolation and Activation Assays', Bio-protocol 9(20), e3405. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3405

Iegre, J. I., Wu, W., Ahmed, N. S., Tan, Y. S., Lopes-Pires, M. E., Gaynord, J. S., Lau, Y. H., Sore, H. F., Verma, C., Pugh, N. and Spring, D. R. (2018) 'Stapled peptides as a new technology to investigate protein-protein interactions in human platelets', Chemical Science, 9, pp. 4638-4643.

Rosini, S., Pugh, N., Bonna, A. M., Hulmes, D. J. S., Farndale, R. W. and Adams, J. C. (2018) 'Thrombospondin-1 promotes matrix homeostasis by interacting with collagen and lysyl oxidase precursors and collagen cross-linking sites', Sci Signal 11(532), eaar2566.

Howes, J. M., Pugh, N. Hamaia, S. W., Jung, S. M., Knäuper, V., Malcor, J. D., Farndale, R. W. (2018) 'MMP-13 binds to platelet receptors αIIbβ3 and GPVI and impairs aggregation and thrombus formation', Res Pract Thromb Haemost, 2(2), pp. 370-379.

Misra, A., Prakash, P., Aggarwal, H., Dhankani, P., Kumar, S., Pandey, C. P., Pugh, N., Bihan, D., Barthwal, M. K., Farndale, R. W., Dikshit, D. K., Dikshit, M. (2018) 'Anti-thrombotic efficacy of S007-867: Pre-clinical evaluation in experimental models of thrombosis in vivo and in vitro', Biochem Pharmacol., 148, pp. 288-297.

Taylor, K. A., Ahmed, N., Wilson, D., Harper, M. T. and Pugh, N. (2017) 'Extracellular chloride is required for efficient activation of secondary signalling pathways during platelet aggregation', Platelets, 29(1), pp. 79-83. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2017.1332367

Pugh, N., Maddox B. D., Bihan D., Taylor K. A., Mahaut-Smith M. P. and Farndale R. W. (2017) 'Differential integrin activity mediated by platelet collagen receptor engagement under flow conditions', Thromb Haemost, 117(8), pp. 1588-1600.

Taylor, K. A. and Pugh, N. (2016) 'The contribution of zinc to platelet behaviour during haemostasis and thrombosis', Metallomics, 8(2), pp. 144-55.

Watson, B. R., White, N. A., Taylor, K. A., Howes, J. M., Malcor, J.-D., Bihan, D., Sage, S. O., Farndale, R. W. and Pugh, N. (2016) 'Zinc is a transmembrane agonist that induces platelet activation in a tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent manner', Metallomics, 8(1), pp. 91-100.

Howes, J. M., Pugh, N., Knäuper, V. and Farndale, R. W. (2015) 'Modified platelet deposition on matrix metalloproteinase 13 digested collagen I', J Thromb Haemost, 3(12), pp. 2253-9.

Pugh, N., Bihan, D., Perry, D. J. and Farndale, R. W. (2015) 'Dynamic analysis of platelet deposition to resolve platelet adhesion receptor activity in whole blood at arterial shear rate', Platelets, 26(3), pp. 216-9.

de Witt, S. M., Swieringa, F., Cavill, R., Lamers, M. M., van Kruchten, R., Mastenbroek, T., Baaten, C., Coort, S., Pugh, N., Schulz, A., Scharrer, I., Jurk, K., Zieger, B., Clemetson, K. J., Farndale, R. W., Heemskerk, J. W. and Cosemans, J .M. (2014) 'Identification of platelet function defects by multi-parameter assessment of thrombus formation', Nat Commun., 5, pp. 4257.

Recent presentations and conferences

2025: Inaugural Professorial Seminar: 'Metals in biology: How metal ions contribute to all aspects of biology'.

2025: Platelet Society Meeting: poster presentations.

2025: Chelmsford Science Festival.

2024: Chelmsford Science Festival: 'Solar flares and the Aurora Borealis in East Anglia'.

2023: MILEAGE conference, Jamaica: plenary speaker.

2023: Chelmsford Science Festival: ‘What’s in a clot’ lecture.

2022: Zinc Net conference, Aachen, Germany: invited speaker.

2021: British Science Festival: ‘What’s in a clot’ lecture.

2020: Organised and Chaired the 'Zinc Zoom' seminar series.

2020: 'Blood and Bone' seminar presentation.

2019: Platelet UK meeting, Cambridge, UK: organising committee, session chair.

Media experience

2021 ‘Up close and personal with platelets’, Teach Me in 10 presentation for Technology Networks.

2021 'Clot Chat’ interview for the platelet society.