Dr Natividad Garrido Mesa

Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
Department of Pharmacy
School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry
Penrhyn Road

Senior Lecturer in Physiology and Pharmacology

[email protected]

About

I graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Granada (Spain) in 2007 and completed an MSc in Pharmaceutical Care. I conducted my PhD research in the Department of Pharmacology, evaluating the anti-inflammatory activity of immunomodulatory antibiotics in preclinical models of intestinal inflammation. I was awarded a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2011 and an Extraordinary Doctorate Award. As a PhD fellow I was a visiting scientist at different universities including Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin among others. I moved to London in 2012 and joined the Department of Experimental Immunobiology at King's College London where I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate for four years working towards unveiling the role of the transcription factor T-bet in regulating Innate Lymphoid Cells function. I then joined the University of East London as a Lecturer in Pharmacology, where I spent four years teaching pharmacology and immunology in various degrees and started my small research group. I have recently joined the School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry at Kingston University as a Lecturer in Physiology and Pharmacology.

I started teaching in higher education during my PhD and my passion for teaching and learning has only grown stronger since then. I hold two Postgraduate Certificates in Education and was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2017. I am also interested in bringing science closer to the public and schoolchildren. I have participated in science outreach organisation as Spanish Project manager of Native scientist and vice-director of the London constituency of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (2014–2015).

My research interests are in the fields of Pharmacology and Immunology, my work focuses on the study of the regulation of mucosal immune responses and the validation of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of immune mediated diseases, in particular Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Qualifications

PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of Granada, 2011)
MSc in Pharmaceutical Care (University of Granada, 2008)
BSc in Pharmacy (University of Granada, 2007)

Domains

My research work is focused on the study of the regulation of mucosal immune responses in the context of intestinal inflammation and the validation of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

I have a small research group currently study how immunomodulatory antibiotics regulate the function and phenotype of macrophages and other innate immune cells and how this relates to their anti-inflammatory effect. I have supervised and currently supervise PhD, MSc and undergraduate students on this area of research.

I have also participated as a co-investigator in a variety of research projects searching for pharmacological alternatives for the treatment of other inflammatory and autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, with a particular interest in natural compounds (probiotics, prebiotics and medicinal plants).

Over the years, I have acquired a background in cellular immunology that complements my pharmacological training and contributes to my understanding of the pharmacology of immune-based therapies. I have expertise in the preclinical evaluation drugs in models of immunologically-driven disease both in vivo (including genetically modified, tissue specific conditional knock-outs and fluorescent reporter models), ex vivo (organ bath and explants) and in vitro (cell lines, co-cultures, immune cell culture). I have expertise in different histological, cellular and molecular techniques (multicolour flow cytometry and intracellular cytokine and transcription factor staining, ELISA, western blotting, microRNAs and mRNA RT-PCR).

Specialisms

Pharmacology
Immunology
Bioscience

Scholarly affiliations

Member of the British Pharmacological society (2017-present)
Member of the British Society of Immunology (2013-present)
Member of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (2012-present)
Guest Associate Editor Frontiers in Pharmacology - Topic: Pharmacological Regulation of Innate Immune Cell Plasticity: a Novel Strategy for the Treatment of IBD?
Guest Associate Editor Frontiers in Immunology - Topic: The Gut-immune Axis: A Complex Training Ground Impacting Inflammatory Pathologies
Associate Editor Frontiers in Pharmacology - Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery specialty section

Publications

Polymeric microneedles: advancing potential through innovative manufacturing, polymer design, and characterization techniques

Lamie, Caroline, Chioni, Athina Myrto, Garrido-Mesa, Natividad and Elshaer, Amr, 2026, Current Pharmaceutical Design (32), 11 pp 824-853, Published

Dr Natividad Garrido Mesa

About

Qualifications

Domains

Teaching and learning

Research

Publications

Articles

Theses