Professor Ed Sturrock
Affiliations
- Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
- Senior Research Scholar and Emeritus Professor, Division of Chemical and Systems Biology, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town (UCT)
- Fellow of Royal Society of South Africa; Fellow of UCT; Member of ASSAf
Key Expertise
Protein biochemistry
Main Research Focus
Structure-function aspects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE); design and synthesis of novel domain-selective ACE and vasopeptidase inhibitors for hypertension and CVD; the mechanisms involved in fibrosing tuberculous pericarditis; and the processing of the membrane-anchored proteins. Ed has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers and five patents, and has trained more than 40 students at PhD and MSc levels. He currently holds an NRF A rating. Together with colleagues in the Unites States (US) and United Kingdom (UK), he founded a spin-off company AngioDesign (UK) Ltd.
Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024
Proteomic analysis of human macrophages 1 overexpressing angiotensin converting enzyme.
Oosthuizen D, Ganief TA, Bernstein KE, Sturrock ED (2024).
The success of an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-overexpressing murine macrophage model in treating microbial infections and cancer opens a new avenue into whether ACE overexpression in human macrophages shares these benefits. In the present study, proteomic changes in an ACE-overexpressing THP-1 cell line were assessed using mass spectrometry. ACE activity was significantly reduced following inhibitor treatment, and both RNA processing and immune pathways were significantly dysregulated. A novel, functionally enriched immune pathway that appeared both with ACE overexpression and inhibitor treatment was neutrophil degranulation. ACE overexpression within human macrophages showed similarities with ACE 10/10 murine macrophages, paving the way for mechanistic studies aimed at understanding the altered immune function.