Dr Steve Wilkinson Homepage

Dr Steve Wilkinson

Dr Steve Wilkinson
School of Chemistry
The University of Manchester
Faraday Building
PO Box 88, Sackville Street
Manchester M60 1QD

	Personal

	Dr Stephen James Wilkinson School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Sackville St, Manchester M60 1QD Tel: +44 (0)161 200 4414 Email:

Research

Dynamic Modelling of the MAP Kinase Signalling Pathway

MAPK consists of a generic three component sequential activation pathway that has been conserved from yeast to humans. The particular pathway that I'm interested the one involving the p38 Map kinases.

The p38 MAP kinases regulate the expression of cytokines – the pathway being activated in immune cells by inflammatory cytokines. Other stimuli for the p38 pathway include hormones, ligands for G-protein coupled receptors and stresses such as osmotic/heat shock. The p38 pathway is strongly involved in the human diseases of asthma and autoimmunity.

I'm constructing a detailed dynamic ODE model of the p38 MAPK pathway in order to understand its dynamic behaviour.

	Education

	Cambridge University (Trinity College) 1992 MA, MEng in Chemical Engineering (1st Class Hons) Imperial College, London 1996: PhD Chemical Engineering - 'Aggregate Formulations for Large-Scale Process Scheduling Problems'. This research was undertaken in the Centre for Process Systems Engineering and was part-funded by Unilever Research. We developed new techniques for solving large-scale supply chain problems that were previously considered intractable. These techniques have since been incorporated into commercial software systems.

	Work

	April 2005 – present: Pfizer funded Research Fellow. Working in Professor Douglas Kell's Bioanalytical Sciences Group at Manchester University. May 2000 – February 2005: Director of Decision Engines Ltd., London. The company provided consultancy and bespoke software tools for complex business optimisation problems in the process industries. It has developed a growing set of software components including optimisation engines for use in third party software. June 1999 – May 2000: Application Consultant for Prescient Systems (formerly Proasis Ltd), Chislehurst, Kent. This company provided planning, scheduling and forecasting products for the process industries. I was involved in all aspects of software development, deployment and support. September 1996 – March 1999: Research Engineer at E. I. DuPont de Nemours, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. As an internal consultant to the company's various businesses, I used optimisation and simulation to solve difficult supply chain problems. I completed several projects that looked at all levels of the decision-making hierarchy: from strategic investment analyses down to the development of real-time production scheduling rules.

	Publications & Presentations

	Wilkinson S.J., “It’s all in the Timing”, The Chemical Engineer, Issue 717, (March 2001). Wilkinson, S.J. and C.M. McDonald, “Scheduling in Mixed Batch and Semi-Continuous Processes”, AIChE Annual Meeting, Los Angeles (1997). Wilkinson, S.J., A. Cortier, N. Shah and C.C. Pantelides, “Integrated Production and Distribution Scheduling on a Europe-Wide Basis”, Computers chem. Engng., 20, S1275-S1280 (1996). Wilkinson, S.J., N. Shah and C.C. Pantelides, “Aggregate Modelling of Multipurpose Plant Operation”, Computers chem. Engng., 19, S583-S588 (1995). Wilkinson, S.J., A. Cortier, N. Shah and C.C. Pantelides, “Scheduling of Large Scale Multisite Production and Distribution Systems”, AIChE Annual Meeting, Miami Beach (1995). Wilkinson, S.J., N. Shah and C.C. Pantelides, “Scheduling of Multisite Flexible Production Systems”, AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco (1994). Wilkinson, S.J., N. Shah and C.C. Pantelides, “Distribution and Production Scheduling for Multipurpose Plants”, IChemE Research Event, 2, 859-861, (1994).

	Miscallaneous

	I'm Honorary Secretary of the Process Engineering Group of the Society of the Chemical Industry and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology. Outside of work I play rugby for Knutsford Rugby Club 1st XV - primarily to avoid shopping or diy on Saturday afternoons and maintain my beer consumption. I'm also a keen sailor and small boat builder. DNAT is a tool for computer simulation of signalling pathways. To download the current update files click here.

Last update: 27 July 2006

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