Dr Dan Carr BSc (Hons) MSc PhD FHEA

Personal Statement

Dan studied for a BSc (Hons) Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Central Lancashire and an MSc in Molecular Pathology and Toxicology at the University of Leicester . He subsequently spent time working within the Safety Assessment Department, AstraZeneca at Alderley Edge, Cheshire before returning to Leicester to complete a PhD within the Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine.
He held a postdoctoral position at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (latterly Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology) at the University of Liverpool, under the supervision of Professors Munir Pirmohamed and Kevin Park. In 2009 he moved to the newly created Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine, University of Liverpool and in 2013, was awarded a Tenure-Track fellowship by the University of Liverpool, and was latterly confirmed to the position of Lecturer in Pharmacology in 2017 and Senior Lecturer in 2023.

The research of his group is focused on severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions, with a particular interest in Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis. SJS/TEN are rare, life-threatening skin blistering reactions which can be caused by a diverse range of prescribed drugs.

The work in the lab is looking to identify predictive biomarkers of SJS/TEN, both circulatory and skin-specific. In order to so, we have developed novel ex vivo models of the SJS/TEN pathology, which additionally afford us significant mechanistic insight into the pathogenesis. These insights have allowed us to identify valid therapeutic targets which we are investigating as putative novel treatment strategies for a reaction which currently has no targeted therapies.
SJS/TEN is rare, and obtaining biological samples from patients is challenging. To this end we have established a network of: i) national and international academic collaborators in dermatology and pathology and ii) SJS/TEN survivors and patient advocates.

Additionally, he has a long-held interest in pharmacogenomics and are currently working on a number of projects looking to identify genetic markers of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug safety across a range of areas including infectious diseases, neurology and diabetes. These are part of collaborations with academia, industry and regulatory bodies.

Top 3 papers:
Olsson-Brown A Yip V, Ogiji E, Jolly C, Ressel L, Sharma A…, Carr DF. TNF-α mediated keratinocyte expression and release of matrix metalloproteinase 9: putative mechanism of pathogenesis in Stevens-Johnson syndrome/ toxic epidermal necrolysis. J Invest Dermatol. 2023. Jun; 143 (6):1023-1030.e7.

Nwikue G, Olsson-Brown A, Aboheimed N, Yip V, Jolly C…, Carr DF. TNF-α induced extracellular release of keratinocyte High Mobility Group Box 1 in Stevens-Johnson syndrome/ toxic epidermal necrolysis: biomarker and putative mechanism of pathogenesis. J Dermatol. 2023. 50(9):1129-1139

Carr DF, Wang CW, Bellón T, Ressel L, Nwikue G, Shrivastava V, Bergfeld W, Jorgensen AL, Chung WH, Pirmohamed M. Serum and blister-fluid elevation and decreased epidermal content of HMGB1 protein in drug-induced Stevens Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis. Br J Dermatol. 2019: 181(1); 166-174.