Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Professor James D Chalmers studied medicine in Glasgow before medical training in South East Scotland. in 2008 he was awarded a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship to undertake a PhD into the immunology of bronchiectasis at the MRC Centre for Inflammation Research in Edinburgh. He moved to the University of Dundee in 2011 and established his independent research group in 2012. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Microbiology in 2013 and subsequently was awarded the GSK/British Lung Foundation Chair in Respiratory Research and a Senior Clinical Fellowship from the Scottish Government Chief Scientists Office in 2017.
Professor Chalmers is an active clinician running a specialist clinic for patients with difficult respiratory infections, particularly bronchiectasis, as an honorary consultant physician at Ninewells Hospital.
He has been recognised with a number of prestigious awards including the British Thoracic Society Early Career Investigator Award in 2011, the John Munro Medal for Excellence in Teaching from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2014, the Romain Pauwels Award for Scientific Achievements from the European Respiratory Society in 2017 and the Patrick Neil Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2021 he received the Cournand Lecture Award from the European Respiratory Society, the Mid-Career Peer Recognition Award from the American Thoracic Society and the Herald Higher Education Outstanding Contribution Award.
He has published more than 350 peer reviewed manuscripts and chaired several international guideline panels including the 2017 European Bronchiectasis Guidelines, the 2020 European Guidelines for ICS use in COPD, the European Respiratory Society Living Guideline for Management of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 and the upcoming European Respiratory Society Guidelines for the Management of Bronchiectasis in Adults. He was appointed as Deputy Chief Editor of the European Respiratory Journal and was appointed Chief Editor in 2018. He is current Chair of the Science and Research Committee of the British Thoracic Society and co-Chairs the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office Translational Clinical Studies Committee.
Research
Our research group aims to develop new treatments for acute and chronic lung diseases through experimental medicine, the translation of scientific discoveries into patient benefit.
We do this through a combination of basic investigation, clinical cohorts and interventional clinical studies allowing a genuinely "bench to bedside" approach. A key focus of the laboratory is studying the interaction of the immune response, particularly neutrophils and the microbiome with the aim of developing novel antibiotic and non-antibiotic approaches to treating lung disease.
We are regarded as the worlds leading research centre for the study of bronchiectasis, a chronic respiratory disease affecting more than 200,000 people in the UK. Dundee hosts the EMBARC European Bronchiectasis Network and leads multiple international studies including a number of randomized clinical trials of novel therapies with academic partners and international pharmaceutical companies.
There are active research programmes within the group into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COVID-19, Long COVID, influenza, pneumonia, non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease and pleural infection.
Work is supported by grants from Asthma and Lung UK, the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office, the European Respiratory Society, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the National Institute for Healthcare Research, Lifearc and the pharmaceutical industry.
Research interests
Respiratory Infections
Bronchiectasis
COPD
COVID-19
Pneumonia
Immunology
Neutrophilic inflammation
Microbiome
Proteomics
Mucociliary clearance
Experimental Medicine
Biomarkers
Randomized Clinical Trials
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-1 Inhibition: A Posthoc Analysis Of The WILLOW Trial
Chalmers, J. (Investigator)
1/12/23 → 31/05/26
Project: Research
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Dipeptidyl Peptidase-1 Reduces Azurocidin-1: Exploring A Novel Anti-Inflammatory Mechanism Of Brensocatib
Chalmers, J. (Investigator)
1/12/23 → 31/05/26
Project: Research
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REMAP-CAP Influenza (joint with Imperial College London)
Chalmers, J. (Investigator)
1/12/22 → 30/11/25
Project: Research
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GREAT-2: A phase 2 trial of Gremubamab compared to placebo in participants with bronchiectasis and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection
Chalmers, J. (Investigator)
1/11/22 → 31/10/25
Project: Research
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The European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration (EMBARC 3)
Chalmers, J. (Investigator)
1/07/22 → 31/08/28
Project: Research
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Aspergillus Serologic Findings and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Bronchiectasis: Data From the European Bronchiectasis Registry
Pollock, J., Goeminne, P. C., Aliberti, S., Polverino, E., Crichton, M. L., Ringshausen, F. C., Dhar, R., Vendrell, M., Burgel, P. R., Haworth, C. S., De Soyza, A., De Gracia, J., Bossios, A., Rademacher, J., Grünewaldt, A., McDonnell, M., Stolz, D., Sibila, O., van der Eerden, M. & Kauppi, P. & 14 others, , 8 Apr 2025, In: Chest. 167, 4, p. 975-992 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus) -
Baseline characteristics of patients in the Chinese Bronchiectasis Registry (BE-China): a multicentre prospective cohort study
BE-China Registry Investigators, Xu, J.-F. (Lead / Corresponding author), Zheng, H.-Z., Lu, H.-W., Wang, L.-W., Wu, B., Lv, X.-D., Luo, H., Feng, J., Li, Y.-Y., Liu, L., Jia, J.-G., Mo, W.-Q., Gu, H.-Y., Jiang, J.-B., Wang, D.-X., Wang, B., Li, L., Yuan, Z. & Li, W. & 16 others, , 4 Feb 2025, In: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 13, 2, p. 166-176 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Citations (Scopus) -
Brensocatib in patients with bronchiectasis: subgroup analyses from the WILLOW trial
Chalmers, J. D. (Lead / Corresponding author), Loebinger, M. R., Teper, A., McShane, P. J., Fernandez, C., Fucile, S., Haworth, C. S., Lauterio, M., Laan, R. V. D., Shih, V. H. & Metersky, M. L., 27 Jan 2025, In: ERJ Open Research. 11, 1, 11 p., 00505-2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)13 Downloads (Pure) -
Broad Immunomodulatory Effects of the Dipeptidyl-peptidase-1 Inhibitor Brensocatib in Bronchiectasis: Data from the Phase 2, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled WILLOW Trial
Johnson, E. D., Long, M. B., Perea, L., Shih, V. H., Fernandez, C., Teper, A., Cipolla, D., McIntosh, E., Galloway, R., Eke, Z., Shuttleworth, M., Hull, R., Spinou, A., De Soyza, A., Ringshausen, F. C., Goeminne, P., Lorent, N., Haworth, C., Loebinger, M. R. & Blasi, F. & 9 others, , 12 Feb 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Clinical Efficacy of Serum Antiglycopeptidolipid Core IgA Antibody Test for Screening Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease in Bronchiectasis: A European Multicenter Cohort Study
Choi, H., Hughes, C., Eke, Z., Shuttleworth, M., Shteinberg, M., Polverino, E., Goeminne, P. C., Welte, T., Blasi, F., Shoemark, A., Long, M. B., Aliberti, S., Haworth, C. S., Ringshausen, F. C., Loebinger, M. R., Lorent, N. & Chalmers, J. D. (Lead / Corresponding author), 8 May 2025, In: Chest. 167, 5, p. 1300-1310 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)12 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Human COPD lung microbiome
Dicker, A. (Creator) & Chalmers, J. (Creator), National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2019
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA539959
Dataset
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Human respiratory disease lung microbiome
Dicker, A. (Creator) & Chalmers, J. (Creator), National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2019
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA548310
Dataset
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MATCH
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), Chalmers, J. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 29 Sept 2021
DOI: 10.15132/10000231, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/5429fc2a-3d72-414d-9393-4079c4c6c0fa
Dataset
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Project: PRJEB71587
Dicker, A. (Creator) & Chalmers, J. (Creator), European Nucleotide Archive, 4 Jan 2024
https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB71587?show=reads
Dataset
Activities
- 2 Public engagement and outreach - public lecture/debate/seminar
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Saturday Series - Escaping to a post Covid world
Murray, P. (Organiser), Wallace, L. (Organiser), Chalmers, J. (Presenter), Hothersall, E. (Presenter), Mercieca, D. (Presenter), Mercieca, D. (Presenter) & Sen, R. (Presenter)
17 Apr 2021Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - public lecture/debate/seminar
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Discovery Days 2019
Urch, J. (Organiser), Kilbride, L. (Presenter), George, J. (Presenter), Keatch, B. (Presenter), Hopkins, N. (Presenter), Cowling, V. (Presenter), Zhao, Q. (Presenter), Ross, C. (Presenter), Khan, S. (Presenter), Keeble, D. (Presenter), Fyfe, N. (Presenter), Varvogli, A. (Presenter), Johansen, A. (Presenter), Read, K. (Presenter), Bartlett, M. (Presenter), Nelson, J. (Presenter), Heffron, R. (Presenter), Colvin, L. (Presenter), Arthur, S. (Presenter), Röben, V. (Presenter), Chalmers, J. (Presenter), Wallace, L. (Organiser), Nic Daeid, N. (Presenter), Steele, B. (Presenter), Anderson, A. (Presenter), Atherton, A. (Chair), Alexander, W. (Chair), Rowan, J. (Chair) & Wasim, S. (Organiser)
9 Jan 2019 → 11 Jan 2019Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - public lecture/debate/seminar
File
Press/Media
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Trial results could herald “major step forward” in battle against hard-to-treat lung infections
20/05/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Young Scientist Award for Dundee medical student
19/09/13 → 18/10/13
2 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research