Professor Steve Watson

Steve Watson is a British Heart Foundation Professor in Cardiovascular Sciences and Cellular Pharmacology based at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Steve Watson studies the pathways that give rise to blood clotting in healthy individuals and in patients with bleeding disorders. His research focuses on the role of small cells in the blood, known as platelets, which undergo clumping at sites of damage to the vascular wall and in this way plug the site of bleeding. Platelets can also be activated in diseased blood vessels, notably in areas of build of fatty plaques, and this can lead to blockage of the vessel causing conditions such as heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia.

Professor Watson has identified several of the key proteins involved in platelet activation and shown that disruption of their ability to fulfil their roles (e.g. due to a genetic mutation) can lead to bleeding. On the other hand, he has also shown that drugs that block their function can, in some patients, prevent the clotting of blood in diseased vessels. This work has led to the setting of a clinical trial to test a new drug in patients with a heart attack.

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