Dr EWAN CAMPBELL
Research Fellow
work
+44 (0)1224 272648
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e.m.campbell@abdn.ac.uk
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Room 209, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Old Aberdeen, AB242TZ
Research Fellow
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Personal Details
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Biography
After graduating in Zoology (Parasitology) from the University of Aberdeen in 2001 I worked in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest monitoring large mammal and bird diversity in collaboration with INRENA and GFUK.
I returned to the UK and carried out my PhD in looking at cellular water channels or aquaporins in the humble Earthworm, Lumbricus rubellus and how these proteins effected osmoregulation. I took on a post-doctoral position in the same lab working on tick aquaporins using cutting edge gene knockdown RNAi techniques to inhibit salivary gland function. It was realised that this technology could possibly be used as part of a control strategy in a host of other parasites and so, along with Dr Alan Bowman, we pioneered RNAi techniques in the economically important salmon sea lice and in the devastating parasite of honeybees, Varroa destructor. This later work gained much media and press interest and resulted in Dr Bowman being awarded the Spirit of Scotland Award for our work.
I left the UK in 2009 to take up a post as a research fellow at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. Here I continued my interest in arthropod aquaporins but began looking at the controversial role of some subtypes of aquaporins as ion channels involved in neural development and ionostasis in the human CNS. My research in Australia covered a wide range of topics including the development and testing of pharmacological agonists and antagonists of plasmodium aquaporins and human neural targets. I had collaborations with CSIRO on amoebic gill disease in Salmon and also with the USDA on whitefly.
In 2012 I returned to the University of Aberdeen to again help tackle the problems of honeybee health and I am currently involved in a BBSRC funded grant with the National Bee Unit and bee health company Vita Ltd in developing our initial research from 2009 into an applied solution to help tackle Varroa mites.
I have strong links with the Scottish Beekeepers Association and with other local associations and I am keen to foster collaborative research into insect pollinator health and disease.
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Current Research
I am currently involved in research that aims to help manage or control the major pest of honeybees, Varroa destructor. Varroa mites have only recently jumped species from the Asian honeybee, with which it happily co-exists, to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera that is a major pollinator of crops and also supplies us with honey. Varroa weakens honeybee colonies by spreading disease, most notably deformed wing virus, and by feeding on developing larvae and pupae. I am currently developing RNA interference as a means of targeting Varroa specific genes with the overall goal of an applied solution to this economically devastating pest.
I also have a small project looking at another mite, Acarapis woodii that lives in the trachea of honeybees. This is a short term project that will survey Scotland for this mite and will develop a rapid molecular approach to diagnose infestations.
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Collaborations
I currently have collaborations with the national bee unit (NBU) based just outside York, the honeybee health company Vita Ltd, the Scottish Beekeepers Association (SBA) and the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA).
In the past I have worked with CSIRO in Australia, USDA-ARS in USA and with INRENA in Peru.
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Publications
Contributions to Journals
Articles
- Yool, AJ. & Campbell, EM. (2012). 'Structure, function and translational relevance of aquaporin dual water and ion channels'. Molecular Aspects of Medicine, vol 33, no. 5-6, pp. 553-561.
[Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.mam.2012.02.001 - Campbell, EM., Birdsell, DN. & Yool, AJ. (2012). 'The activity of human aquaporin 1 as a cGMP-gated cation channel is regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation in the carboxyl-terminal domain'. Molecular Pharmacology, vol 81, no. 1, pp. 97-105.
[Online] DOI: 10.1124/mol.111.073692 - Brooke, MDL., Flower, TP., Campbell, EM., Mainwaring, MC., Davies, S. & Welbergen, JA. (2012). 'Rainfall-related population growth and adult sex ratio change in the Critically Endangered Raso lark (Alauda razae)'. Animal Conservation, vol 15, no. 5, pp. 466-471.
[Online] DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2012.00535.x - Vandenberg, RJ., Handford, CA., Campbell, EM., Ryan, RM. & Yool, AJ. (2011). 'Water and urea permeation pathways of the human excitatory amino acid transporter EAAT1'. Biochemical Journal, vol 439, no. 2, pp. 333-340.
[Online] DOI: 10.1042/BJ20110905 - Mathew, LG., Campbell, EM., Yool, AJ. & Fabrick, JA. (2011). 'Identification and characterization of functional aquaporin water channel protein from alimentary tract of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci'. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, vol 41, no. 3, pp. 178-190.
[Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2010.12.002 - Campbell, EM., Burdin, M., Hoppler, S. & Bowman, AS. (2010). 'Role of an aquaporin in the sheep tick Ixodes ricinus: Assessment as a potential control target'. International Journal for Parasitology, vol 40, no. 1, pp. 15-23.
[Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2009.06.010 - Campbell, EM., Budge, GE. & Bowman, AS. (2010). 'Gene-knockdown in the honey bee mite Varroa destructor by a non-invasive approach: studies on a glutathione S-transferase'. Parasites & Vectors, vol 3, pp. 73.
[Online] DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-3-73
[Online] AURA: mite%20geneknockdown.pdf - Ball, A., Campbell, EM., Jacob, J., Hoppler, S. & Bowman, AS. (2009). 'Identification, functional characterization and expression patterns of a water-specific aquaporin in the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus'. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, vol 39, no. 2, pp. 105-112.
[Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2008.10.006 - Campbell, EM., Pert, CC. & Bowman, AS. (2009). 'RNA-interference methods for gene-knockdown in the sea louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis: studies on a putative prostaglandin E synthase'. Parasitology, vol 136, no. 8, pp. 867-874.
[Online] DOI: 10.1017/S0031182009990357
Scientific Reviews
- Campbell, EM., Ball, A., Hoppler, S. & Bowman, AS. (2008). 'Invertebrate aquaporins: a review'. Journal of Comparative Physiology. B, Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology, vol 178, no. 8, pp. 935-955.
[Online] DOI: 10.1007/s00360-008-0288-2
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