Dr Robert Jenkins
Research Fellow
- jenkinsrh2@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2068 7320
- Arthritis Research Group, Tenovus Building, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN
Overview
I am a Research Fellow at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University. I have developed a successful research profile in the area of non-coding RNA biology in the context of chronic disease. My expertise has enabled important discoveries in microRNA expression and function in in vivo/in vitro models and patient cohorts in diabetic nephropathy, peritoneal fibrosis and inflammatory arthritis.
Biography
I am a Research Fellow at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University. I have developed a successful research profile in the area of non-coding RNA biology in the context of chronic disease. My expertise has enabled important discoveries in microRNA expression and function in in vivo/in vitro models and patient cohorts in diabetic nephropathy, peritoneal fibrosis and inflammatory arthritis.
Honours and awards
- Young Scientist Award – UK Renal Association, Manchester, UK, 2010, a competitive award for best oral science presentation
Academic positions
2017 - Arthritis Research UK Research Fellow
2013-2017 - Kidney Research UK Fellow, Cardiff University. Competitively awarded three-year fellowship (£192,656) to investigate microRNA regulation of macrophage phenotype in the context of peritoneal fibrosis. Sponsors/collaborators: Prof DJ Fraser, Prof PR Taylor, Prof N Topley & Dr T Bowen. Institute of Nephrology, Cardiff University School of Medicine
2012-2013 - Secondment to Central Biotechnology Services (CBS), Cardiff University, supported by Toray Industries Inc., to develop their European centre for microRNA microarray analysis
2009-2012 - KRUK Research Project Grant: Postdoctoral Research Associate. Supervisors: Dr DJ Fraser & Dr T Bowen ‘The Role of microRNA-192 and -194 in Renal Proximal Tubular Epithelial Cell Phenotype’ Institute of Nephrology, Cardiff University School of Medicine
2007-2009 KRUK Research Project Grant: Postdoctoral Research Associate. Supervisors: Dr DJ Fraser & Prof AO Phillips ‘The influence of RNA Secondary Structure on Translational Regulation of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 (TGF- β1)’. Institute of Nephrology, Cardiff University School of Medicine
Committees and reviewing
- Journal reviewer - FEBS Letters, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, Journal of Inflammation, Biochemical Journal, Clinical Science, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, PlosOne, Inflammation, Reproduction, BMC Nephrology, and Diabetes
- Fellowship and project grant reviewer - Kidney Research UK and Heart Research UK
- Member of the Editorial Advisory Panel for the journal Clinical Science
Publications
2024
- Czubala, M. A. et al. 2024. Tissue-specific transcriptional programming of macrophages controls the microRNA transcriptome targeting multiple functional pathways. Journal of Biological Chemistry, article number: 107244. (10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107244)
- Gurney, M. et al. 2024. Lentiviral vector preparation for efficient gene and microRNA modulation of peritoneal cavity tissue-resident macrophages in vivo in mice. Journal of Visualized Experiments 204, article number: e64926. (10.3791/64926)
2022
- Millrine, D., Jenkins, R. H., Hughes, S. T. O. and Jones, S. A. 2022. Making sense of IL-6 signalling cues in pathophysiology. FEBS Letters 596(5), pp. 567-588. (10.1002/1873-3468.14201)
2021
- Jenkins, R. H., Hughes, S. T., Cardus Figueras, A. and Jones, S. A. 2021. Unravelling the broader complexity of IL-6 involvement in health and disease. Cytokine 148, article number: 155684. (10.1016/j.cyto.2021.155684)
- Newbury, L. J. et al. 2021. miR-141 mediates recovery from acute kidney injury. Scientific Reports 11(1), article number: 16499. (10.1038/s41598-021-94984-x)
- Khalid, U. et al. 2021. Determination of a microRNA signature of protective kidney ischemic preconditioning originating from proximal tubules. Scientific Reports 11(1), article number: 9862. (10.1038/s41598-021-89195-3)
2020
- Midgley, A. C. et al. 2020. Hyaluronidase-2 regulates RhoA signalling, myofibroblast contractility and other key pro-fibrotic myofibroblast functions. American Journal of Pathology 190(6), pp. 1236-1255. (10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.02.012)
- Ipseiz, N., Czubala, M. A., Bart, V. M., Davies, L. C., Jenkins, R. H., Brennan, P. and Taylor, P. R. 2020. Effective in vivo gene modification in mouse tissue-resident peritoneal macrophages by intraperitoneal delivery of lentiviral vectors. Molecular Therapy - Methods and Clinical Development 16, pp. 21-31. (10.1016/j.omtm.2019.10.004)
2019
- Brook, A. C. et al. 2019. Neutrophil-derived miR-223 as local biomarker of bacterial peritonitis. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 10136. (10.1038/s41598-019-46585-y)
- Khalid, U. et al. 2019. A urinary microRNA panel that is an early predictive biomarker of delayed graft function following kidney transplant. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 3584. (10.1038/s41598-019-38642-3)
2018
- Beltrami, C. et al. 2018. Association of elevated urinary miR-126, miR-155, and miR-29b with diabetic kidney disease. American Journal of Pathology 188(9), pp. 1982-1992. (10.1016/j.ajpath.2018.06.006)
2017
- Lopez-Anton, M. et al. 2017. miR-21 promotes fibrogenesis in peritoneal dialysis. American Journal of Pathology 187(7), pp. 1537-1550. (10.1016/j.ajpath.2017.03.007)
2016
- Khalid, U., Ablorsu, E., Szabo, L., Jenkins, R. H., Bowen, T., Chavez, R. and Fraser, D. J. 2016. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) expression in hypothermic machine perfusate may be predictive of early outcomes in kidney transplantation. Clinical Transplantation 30(2), pp. 99-104. (10.1111/ctr.12679)
- Chavez, R., Fraser, D. J., Bowen, T., Jenkins, R. H., Nesargikar, P., Pino-Chavez, G. and Khalid, U. 2016. Kidney ischaemia reperfusion injury in the rat: the EGTI scoring system as a valid and reliable tool for histological assessment. Journal of Histology and Histopathology 3, article number: 1. (10.7243/2055-091X-3-1)
2015
- Nesargikar, P., Spiller, B., Jenkins, R., Khalid, U., Fraser, D. and Chavez, R. 2015. Modulation of leukocytes and endothelium by anti-thymocyte globulin confers protection against renal ischemia reperfusion injury in rats. Transplant International 28(54), pp. 61., article number: O158. (10.1111/tri.12700)
- Khalid, U., Jenkins, R. H., Simpson, K., Ablorsu, E., Bowen, T., Fraser, D. J. and Chavez, R. 2015. Urinary microrna expression predicts delayed graft function in kidney transplantation [Abstract]. Transplant International 28(S4), pp. 367-367. (10.1111/tri.12702)
- Nesargikar, P., Pino-Chavez, G., Spiller, O. B., Fraser, D. J., Jenkins, R. H. and Chavez, R. 2015. Single dose sCR1 attenuates renal ischemia reperfusion injury in rats despite early reconstitution of the complement system [Abstract]. Transplant International 28(S4), pp. 62-62. (10.1111/tri.12700)
- Beltrami, C. et al. 2015. Stabilization of urinary microRNAs by association with exosomes and argonaute 2 protein. Non-Coding RNA 1(2), pp. 151-166. (10.3390/ncrna1020151)
- Midgley, A. C., Druggal, L., Jenkins, R., Hascall, V., Steadman, R., Phillips, A. O. and Meran, S. 2015. Hyaluronan regulates bone morphogenetic protein-7-dependent prevention and reversal of myofibroblast phenotype. Journal of Biological Chemistry 290(18), pp. 11218-11234. (10.1074/jbc.M114.625939)
- Jenkins, R., Liao, C., Wallace, L., Bowen, T., Topley, N., Taylor, P. and Fraser, D. 2015. Microrna regulation of macrophage phenotype in peritoneal fibrosis. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 30(iii262) (10.1093/ndt/gfv180.15)
2014
- Khalid, U., Bowen, T., Fraser, D. and Jenkins, R. 2014. Acute kidney injury: a paradigm for miRNA regulation of the cell cycle. Biochemical Society Transactions 42(4), pp. 1219-1223. (10.1042/BST20140093)
- Jenkins, R. H. et al. 2014. miR-192 induces G2/M growth arrest in aristolochic acid nephropathy. American Journal of Pathology 184(4), pp. 996-1009. (10.1016/j.ajpath.2013.12.028)
2013
- Bowen, T., Jenkins, R. H. and Fraser, D. J. 2013. MicroRNAs, transforming growth factor Beta-1, and tissue fibrosis. The Journal of Pathology 229(2), pp. 274-285. (10.1002/path.4119)
2012
- Jenkins, R. H., Martin, J., Phillips, A. O., Bowen, T. and Fraser, D. J. 2012. Transforming growth factor β1 represses proximal tubular cell microRNA-192 expression through decreased hepatocyte nuclear factor DNA binding. Biochemical Journal 443(2), pp. 407-416. (10.1042/BJ20111861)
- Jenkins, R. H., Martin, J., Phillips, A. O., Bowen, T. and Fraser, D. J. 2012. Pleiotropy of microRNA-192 in the kidney. Biochemical Society Transactions 40(4), pp. 762-767. (10.1042/BST20120085)
2011
- Martin, J., Jenkins, R. H., Bennagi, R., Krupa, A., Phillips, A. O., Bowen, T. and Fraser, D. J. 2011. Post-transcriptional regulation of transforming growth factor beta-1 by microrna-744. PLoS ONE 6(10), article number: e25044. (10.1371/journal.pone.0025044)
- Jenkins, R. H. and Fraser, D. J. 2011. BMP-6 emerges as a potential major regulator of fibrosis in the kidney [Commentary]. American Journal of Pathology 178(3), pp. 964-965. (10.1016/j.ajpath.2010.12.010)
2010
- Jenkins, R. H., Bennagi, R., Martin, J., Phillips, A. O., Redman, J. E. and Fraser, D. J. 2010. A conserved stem loop motif in the 5'Untranslated Region regulates transforming growth factor-β1 translation. PLoS One 5(8), article number: e12283. (10.1371/journal.pone.0012283)
- Krupa, A., Jenkins, R. H., Luo, D. D., Lewis, A. G., Phillips, A. O. and Fraser, D. J. 2010. Loss of microRNA-192 promotes fibrogenesis in diabetic nephropathy. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 21(3), pp. 438-447. (10.1681/ASN.2009050530)
2009
- Webber, J. P., Jenkins, R. H., Meran, S., Phillips, A. O. and Steadman, R. 2009. Modulation of TGFβ1-dependent myofibroblast differentiation by hyaluronan. American Journal of Pathology 175(1), pp. 148-160. (10.2353/ajpath.2009.080837)
2007
- Kastner, S., Thomas, G. J., Jenkins, R. H., Davies, M. and Steadman, R. 2007. Hyaluronan induces the selective accumulation of matrix- and cell-associated proteoglycans by mesangial cells. American Journal of Pathology 171, pp. 1811-1821. (10.2353/ajpath.2007.070085)
2004
- Jenkins, R. H., Thomas, G. J., Williams, J. D. and Steadman, R. 2004. Myofibroblastic differentiation leads to hyaluronan accumulation through reduced hyaluronan turnover. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 279(40), pp. 41453-41460. (10.1074/jbc.M401678200)
Teaching
I am enthusiastically engaged in teaching, supervision and mentoring of undergraduate, MD and PhD students. I have designed and delivered lectures, laboratory-based research projects and practical sessions. These include
- Lectures on epigenetics in the modules ‘Cellular and Molecular Biology of Cancer’ and ‘Translational Oncology’ – Cancer Biology and Therapeutics (MSc), Cardiff University
- Design, supervise and assess laboratory-based research projects for the Medical Pharmacology (BSc), Cardiff University
- Guest lectures University of the West of England – Genetics (MSc)
My research objective is to link mechanistic studies with translational outcomes that improve the clinical management of inflammatory arthritis and diabetic nephropathy. Throughout my postdoctoral and fellowship research I have developed an extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of microRNA biology with direct clinical relevance to chronic disease. Specifically, I am interested holistic or ‘systems-based’ approaches to studying disease mechanisms using transcriptomics. I have made important discoveries in diabetic nephropathy, peritoneal fibrosis and now inflammatory arthritis utilising a translational approach combining patient cohorts and functional evaluation in in vivo/in vitro models. Scientific interest in my research is demonstrated through well-cited publications and invited reviews in leading journals (e.g., J Am Soc Nephrol, Am J Pathol, J Pathol) and numerous oral presentations at national and international conferences (e.g., UK Renal Association, American Society of Nephrology, RNA UK). My achievements are further illustrated by research prizes (Young Scientist Award’ UK Renal Association) and as a reviewer and editorial member for several journals (J Am Soc Nephrol, Kidney Int, Clinical Science).