This interview is with Dr Garry Walsh, Editor in Chief of Journal of Cell Death and Clinical Medicine: Therapeutics, and Reader in Immunity and Inflammation and Principal Investigator, Asthmatic and Allergic Inflammation Group, School of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen.

Tom: What would you say is the primary focus of your research effort (and how do you refer to your 'sub-area')?

My career spans over 25 years during which my work has focused on the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms controlling the initiation and resolution of the inflammatory processes underlying asthma, allergic disease and more recently COPD. I also have considerable expertise in the anti-inflammatory effects of second generation antihistamines and their potential side-effects.

Tom: What do you consider to be the most significant developments arising from research in your area?

Apoptosis represents a fundamental biological process and is thus a large and challenging field, with many significant developments occurring on an almost daily basis. From my own perspective the recognition that the increased persistence of apoptotic cells in patients with chronic inflammatory lung diseases is a key pathogenic event has opened up a whole area of research endeavor.

Tom: What do you consider to be the most significant open questions and research challenges in your area?

I think that it is clear that present therapies for inflammatory-based diseases are often ineffective and for the most part are not disease-modifying in their nature. Furthering our understanding of defects in apoptosis and pro-inflammatory cell removal are fertile avenues for the development of novel and effective therapeutics for such conditions.

Tom: Tell us about your collaborative research. Who else do you directly work with and what are the aims of your collaboration?

My work is translational in nature and is therefore reliant on key collaborations with my clinical colleagues at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital. In addition, I have on-going collaborations with the Universities of Dundee and Glasgow. Other important co-workers are based at Trinity College Dublin, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Cellix Ltd, Dublin.

Tom: Is balancing all these activities challenging? How do you deal with it and what tools do you find useful in doing so?

I find this particular balancing act highly rewarding – in fact it’s one of the primary attractions of my career. I work consistently, delegate where possible and try to keep to deadlines (most of the time!). It also helps that my wife is an academic health professional and therefore understands the pressures incumbent on my time.

Tom: When did you decide to be primarily involved in the field that you are now in?

In the mid 1980s when I began working with my mentor, Professor Barry Kay, at the Cardiothoracic Institute in the Brompton Hospital, London.

Tom: What resources do you find indispensible for your research work?

All the computing and electronic devices that support a hectic, peripatetic lifestyle. The combination of e-mail and web-based research tools is invaluable and allows me to work from anywhere in the world.

Tom: What do you think about the development of open access publishing and open access development? How has it changed your perspective on research or development practices?

To my mind, open access represents one of the most significant developments in scientific publishing since web-based journals overtook paper-based publishing. It affords the capacity to speed up publication and reach a far wider audience.

Tom: What books do you think should be required reading for researchers working in your area?

Most books are out of date within a short time of being published – an appreciation of the current literature is therefore vital.

Tom: What books are current on your reading list?

I have recently revisited G.E. Christianson’s illuminating work “In the Presence of the Creator: Issac Newton and his Times” which is a potent account of the forces that shaped Newton’s scientific development. (Amazon.com)

Tom: Do you teach any courses? Is so, which ones?

I teach on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in immunology and biotechnology and am course coordinator for the MSc in immunology at Aberdeen. I also supervise undergraduate, postgraduate and medical students in my lab.

Tom: Which historical research figures do you think have most influenced you in how you think about research? Why are they significant?

Paul Erlich; he first identified the significance of the eosinophil, the leukocyte that started my research career and whose biology I still actively study.

Tom: Which meetings do you attend on a regular basis?

The American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. I also spend a considerable amount of time at the European Commission in Brussels as a panel member and vice-chair for Marie Curie funding actions for Framework Programme 7.

Tom: If you could change something about how research in your area is conducted, used, perceived, or resourced, what would it be?

Convince the UK government to invest more in basic and clinical research and in funding our Universities. A dynamic knowledge based economy is the only way forward.

My thanks to Dr Walsh.