Professor M G Walker

Department of Vascular Surgery,

Manchester Royal Infirmary,

Oxford Road,

Manchester, M13 9WL, UK.

Tel:   +44 161 276 4525

Fax:   +44 161 276 8014

email: mgwalker@fs1.cmht.nwest.nhs.uk

Professor Michael Walker is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary with an active research interest into the development of tissue engineered vascular grafts.  He has been involved in this field for over 10 years.  In the earlier days, the focus of his research was on lining prosthetic graft materials with endothelial cells, isolated from a variety of sources.  With realisation of the importance of the underlying substrate used to attach these cells, the focus of his research was directed to developing strong cell adherence to the underlying scaffold under conditions of high shear stress.  Studies using earlier concepts reached the clinical setting in 1992 in the form of a clinical trial.  Several advances have since been made and over the last 4 years, the Department of health funded work directed to growing hybrid grafts with a co-culture of smooth muscle and endothelial cells.  This project saw the development of many of the tools and techniques that have made the maturation of hybrid blood vessels under conditions of pulsatile flow with physiological homeostasis feasible.  The success of this project culminated in a recent participation in the Tomorrows World Live Exhibition in London this Year. 

As a clinician, Michael Walker has several other areas of interest within the field of vascular surgery.  In particular, he leads an active research programme investigating the processes involved in the development of multiorgan dysfunction syndrome and ischaemia reperfusion injury following aortic surgery.  It is now widely accepted that this type of surgery forms the ideal clinical model to investigate the development and progression of ischaemia reperfusion injury, a dilemma that faces many clinicians treating patients within an intensive care setting.