ABOUT ME

My research focusses on how plasminogen system components influence the barrier function of brain microvasculature. This is important because the plasminogen system is targeted to treat ischemic stroke; however, in addition to resolving stroke, this treatment can also impair brain vascular function. Therefore, I aim to identify potential therapeutic strategies that can be utilised to reduce this undesirable side effect. To conduct these studies, I use impedance platforms and have developed multiple bespoke R packages to measure vascular barrier integrity and assess the molecular phenotype of vascular cell-to-cell junctions. Furthermore, I designed a new shear stress platform that mimics blood flow, so that vascular structures can be assessed under more physiological conditions.

PUBLICATIONS

Selected peer-reviewed publications

1. Hucklesby, J. J. W., Guo, C. Y., Scott Graham, E. S., & Angel, C. E. (2026). Plasmin, the product of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment for ischemic stroke, impairs human brain endothelial barrier integrity. Submitted. Preprint available at doi:10.64898/2026.05.27.728289
2. Hucklesby, J. J. W., Unsworth, C., Scott Graham, E. S., & Angel, C. E. (2026). vascr: An R-based toolkit for rapid and robust analysis of cellular impedance sensing data. European Journal of Biophysics. Under Revision. Preprint available at doi:10.64898/2025.12.17.695026
3. Hucklesby, J. J. W., Angel, C. E., Graham, E. S., Dunbar, P. R., Birch, N. P., & Loef, E. J. (2025). Plasmin reduces human T cell arrest on endothelial-like cells by cleaving bound CCL21 from the cell surface. Experimental Cell Research, 446(2), 114480. doi:10.1016/J.YEXCR.2025.114480 (Citations: 1)
4. Yu, J., Kim, H. J., Reinecke, J., Hucklesby, J., Read, T., Anchan, A., Angel, C. E., & Graham, E. S. (2025). Trying to Kill a Killer; Impressive Killing of Patient-Derived Glioblastoma Cultures Using NK-92 Natural Killer Cells Reveals Both Sensitive and Highly Resistant Glioblastoma Cells. Cells, 14(1), 53. doi:10.3390/cells14010053
5. Anchan, A., Hucklesby, J. J., Graham, E. S., Angel, C. E. (2023). Measuring Changes in Brain Endothelial Barrier Integrity with Two Impedance-based Biosensors in Response to Cancer Cells and Cytokines. J. Vis. Exp. (199), e65959. doi:10.3791/65959
6. Spurling, D., Anchan, A., Hucklesby, J., Finlay, G., Angel, C. E., & Graham, E. S. (2023). Melanoma Cells Produce Large Vesicular-Bodies That Cause Rapid Disruption of Brain Endothelial Barrier-Integrity and Disassembly of Junctional Proteins. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(7), 6082. doi:10.3390/IJMS24076082 (Impact Factor 5.6, Citations: 5)
7. Russell, P. S.*, Hucklesby, J. J. W*., Hong, J., Cao, E., Trevaskis, N. L., Angel, C. E., Windsor, J. A., & Phillips, A. R. J. (2022). Vmeasur: A software package for experimental and clinical measurement of mesenteric lymphatic contractile function over an extended vessel length. Microcirculation, 00, e12748. doi:10.1111/MICC.12748 (* These authors share joint first authorship) (Impact Factor 2.68, Citations: 4)
8. Anchan, A., Finlay, G., Angel, C. E., Hucklesby, J. J. W., & Graham, E. S. (2022). Melanoma Mediated Disruption of Brain Endothelial Barrier Integrity Is Not Prevented by the Inhibition of Matrix Metalloproteinases and Proteases. Biosensors, 12(8), 660. doi:10.3390/bios12080660 (Impact Factor 4.9, Citations: 8)
9. Hucklesby, J. J. W., Anchan, A., O’Carroll, S. J., Unsworth, C. P., Graham, E. S., & Angel, C. E. (2021). Comparison of Leading Biosensor Technologies to Detect Changes in Human Endothelial Barrier Properties in Response to Pro-Inflammatory TNFα and IL1β in Real-Time. Biosensors, 11(5), 159. doi:10.3390/bios11050159 (Impact Factor 5.4, Citations: 15)
10. Anchan, A., Martin, O., Hucklesby, J. J. W., Finlay, G., Johnson, R. H., Robilliard, L. D., O’Carroll, S. J., Angel, C. E., & Graham, E. S. (2020). Analysis of melanoma secretome for factors that directly disrupt the barrier integrity of brain endothelial cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21). doi:10.3390/ijms21218193 (Impact factor 5.6, Citations: 13)
11. Anchan, A., Kalogirou-Baldwin, P., Johnson, R., Kho, D. T., Joseph, W., Hucklesby, J., Finlay, G. J., O’Carroll, S. J., Angel, C. E., & Graham, E. S. (2019). Real-Time Measurement of Melanoma Cell-Mediated Human Brain Endothelial Barrier Disruption Using Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing Technology. Biosensors, 9(2), 56. doi:10.3390/10.3390/bios9020056 (Impact Factor: 5.4, Citations: 24)

SOFTWARE

vmeasur: Quantify the Contractile Nature of Vessels Monitored under an Operating Microscope

GitHub projects