Dr Francesca Arrigoni

About

Dr Francesca Arrigoni  is a Senior Lecturer at Kingston in the Department of Pharmacy at Kingston (ranked #1 in London, and top 10 in the UK for Pharmacy) and has close ties working with the Infection, Immunity and Rheumatology at GOSH, the institute of Child Health, UCL which is based in the Faculty of Population Health Sciences #12  globally for Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health and in Life Sciences. Prior to that, she gained her PhD and post-doctoral experience at UCL and completed her undergraduate degree at Glasgow University with several awards and distinctions (John Hunter Medal 2 consecutive years).

Since joining Kingston University, and completing my Post-Graduate Certificate in Education I have been shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Teaching excellence award - Outstanding Research Supervisor of the year 2017, have been awarded a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2018 and been awarded a Kingston University Teaching fellowship. 

I have a small research group which, as a result of a successful collaboration with UCL, aims to understand how chronic inflammation and the activation of your immune system can influence the health of your vasculature with diseases, that include HIV and also vasculitis with numerous publications in the field of endothelial and vascular physiology.

Academic responsibilities

Senior lecturer Physiology/Pharmacology

Qualifications

  • PhD Pharmacology UCL
  • BSc (Hons) Physiology Glasgow University
  • Senior Fellowship Higher Education Authority
  • PGCE

Teaching and learning

I gained my PGCE in 2007 and my SFHEA in 2018. Involved in postgraduate research, I wanted to develop those skills usually acquired at postgraduate level in an undergraduate science classroom. Collaborating using a CATALYST funded project, I adapted a Critical Thinking toolkit to deconstruct skills of ; deduction, inference, logic and assumption to disseminate across the science faculty.

Evidence of the improvement in student metacognitive abilities were presented at the 4th Horizons in STEM Higher Education 2019. Student pass rate in this module at first attempt rose to 93% in 2019/0, alongside improved module evaluations. 

I am a  Critical Thinking champion for the faculty of Science and have created an online module through a teaching platform (Canvas) to enable staff to design critical thinking programmes and also how to build activities with critical thinking as a core element.

The Critical thinking elements were commended in the internal subject review and accreditations of mPharmacy and Pharmaceutical sciences in 2018.

Critical thinking is now an activity flagged across the entire school (Organic chemistry, forensic science, pharmaceutical science, Pharmacy and Life sciences) and the Critical Thinking toolkit handbook is available across numerous faculties within the university (Nursing, Business) . 

Developing and applying critical thinking to a diverse syllabus, I was awarded a highly competitive Kingston University teaching fellowship in 2020.

I have also designed modules and curricula to include   immunology teaching in the Pharmaceutical Science course, accredited by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (APS) in 2018.   I have also ensured that   Immunology integrates with disciplines of chemistry, pharmacy and pharmaceutics, spiralling upwards in difficulty,  for the mPharm degree,.

I have pushed the most able students to succeed by repeatedly seeking and being awarded competitive funding by the University's Access Working Group, and also applying for and being awarded independent funding from bodies such as The Physiological Society to fund the stipends of undergraduate students wishing to complete summer project laboratory work.

I was nominated for the Times Higher Education " Outstanding research Supervisor of the year award", by my students in 2017. 

Qualifications and expertise

  • Senior Fellow HEA
  • PGCE
  • Kingston University Learning and Teaching Fellow

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Case studies

Wason, Hilary, Lindsay, Jane [Collaborator] and Arrigoni, Francesca [Collaborator] (2021) Developing teaching quality and accessibility of critical thinking in the curriculum using the Critical Thinking Skills Toolkits (CTST). Internal Kingston University Report, unpublished.

This case study discusses my leadership of an innovative curriculum approach to improve the quality and accessibility of critical thinking teaching in disciplinary curricula. I have collaboratively designed ten research informed Critical Thinking Skills Toolkits (Wason, 2016). which have impacted on over 3000 students and 200 staff at Kingston University and across the sector. These toolkits were originated during my faculty teaching role in 2016, and further developed through my work as co-investigator on the OFS project ‘Meeting Employer Demands for Higher Order Thinking Skills’. These transferrable toolkits are shared across the sector under Creative Commons Licence. The University of Bedfordshire uses the toolkits as part of a guided learning package to support 600 students from a variety of academic backgrounds. I have worked with Roehampton University to adapt the toolkit for their new nursing curriculum. Advance HE/QAA have incorporated the toolkits within their Guidelines for Education for Sustainable Development. I have supported the New Jersey Institute of Technology to embed the toolkit across their freshman business programmes for 500 students. This case study contributes to TEF metrics on teaching quality, the learning environment and graduate outcomes as well as the value employers place on graduates who think critically.

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:23:25 2023 BST.

Publications

Number of items: 1.

Conference or Workshop Item

Arrigoni, Francesca (2021) Transdisciplinary teaching in physiology to improve creative thinking. In: BERA (British Educational Research Association) Annual Conference; 13 - 16 Sep 2021, Held online. (Unpublished)

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:17:48 2023 BST.

Research

I trained as an undergraduate in Physiology at the University of  Glasgow and  completed my PhD at  UCL in Pharmacology. In  the last 20 years I have  concentrated on how the lining of the blood vessels, named the endothelium, contributes to  cardiovascular health in clinical studies.  

My research interests currently focus upon the interaction of the vascular endothelium with various leukocyte populations under settings of vascular dysfunction and inflammatory stress.

In 2016, I embarked upon a close collaboration with the Institute of Child Health, GOSH, UCL to investigate how HIV as a chronic inflammatory disease , could impact vascular function chronically.   I am also currently on the team for the analysis of data for the ARROW, EARNEST and CHAPAS HIV trials, carried out at GOSH, Institute of Child Health, UCL. 

I have visited HIV  clinics in South Africa and the Africa Health Research Institute as part of my ongoing collaboration .  

I  have been awarded grant funding to investigate the influence of nitric oxide on monocytic motility.  Other research projects investigate the role  autoimmune  diseases in children of infection on vascular disease. These projects benefit from active and productive collaborations at the GOSH, Institute of Child Health, UCL. 

Qualifications and expertise

  • PhD Pharmacology
  • BSc Hons Physiology

Areas of specialism

  • Immunology of HIV
  • The Vascular Endothelium
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • Inflammation and damage to the lining of blood vessels

Scholarly affiliations

  • Member of the Physiological Society
  • Member of the British Pharmacological Society
  • Senior Research Associate (Honorary) Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UCL

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Number of items: 33.

Article

Arrigoni, Francesca I.F., Spyer, Moira, Hunter, Patricia, Alber, Dagmar, Kityo, Cissy, Hakim, James, Matubu, Allen, Olal, Patrick, Paton, Nicholas I., Walker, A. Sarah and Klein, Nigel (2023) Impact of sub-optimal HIV viral control on activated T-cells : an earnest sub study. AIDS, ISSN (print) 0269-9370 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Kelly, Christine, Tingao, Willard, Alber, Dagmar, Hunter, Patricia, Luckhurst, Natasha, Connolly, Jake, Arrigoni, Francesca, Abner, Alejandro Garcia, Kamn'gona, Raphael, Sheha, Irene, Chammudzi, Mishek, Jambo, Kondwani, Mallewa, Jane, Rapala, Alicja, Mallon, Patrick W. G., Mwandumba, Henry, Klein, Nigel and Khoo, Saye (2021) Inflammatory pathways amongst people living with HIV in Malawi differ according to socioeconomic status. PLoS ONE, 16(8), e0256576. ISSN (online) 1932-6203

Prendergast, A, Szubert, A, Pimundu, G, Berejena, C, Pala, P, Shonhai, A, Hunter, P, Arrigoni, F, Musiime, V, Bwakura-Dangarembizi, M, M, Musoke, P, Poulsom, H, Kihembo, M, Munderi, P, Gibb, D, Spyer, M, Walker, A and Klein, N (2021) The impact of viraemia on inflammatory biomarkers and CD4 cell subpopulations in HIV-infected children in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS, 35(10), pp. 1537-1548. ISSN (print) 1473-5571

Kelly, Christine, Tinago, Willard, Alber, Dagmar, Hunter, Patricia, Luckhurst, Natasha, Connolly, Jake, Arrigoni, Francesca, Abner, Alejandro Garcia, Kamngona, Ralph, Sheha, Irene, Chammudzi, Mishek, Jambo, Kondwani, Mallewa, Jane, Rapala, Alicja, Heyderman, Robert S, Mallon, Patrick W G, Mwandumba, Henry, Walker, A Sarah, Klein, Nigel and Khoo, Saye (2020) Inflammatory phenotypes predict changes in arterial stiffness following antiretroviral therapy initiation. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 71(9), pp. 2389-2397. ISSN (print) 1058-4838

Ghosh, Anshuman, Freestone, Nicholas S, Anim-Nyame, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca I F (2017) Microvascular function in pre-eclampsia is influenced by insulin resistance and an imbalance of angiogenic mediators. Physiological Reports, 5(8), e13185. ISSN (online) 2051-817X

Lambden, Simon, Kelly, Peter, Ahmetaj-Shala, Blerina, Wang, Zhen, Lee, Benjamin, Nandi, Manasi, Torondel, Belen, Delahaye, Matthew, Dowsett, Laura, Piper, Sophie, Tomlinson, James, Caplin, Ben, Colman, Lucy, Boruc, Olga, Slaviero, Anna, Zhao, Lan, Oliver, Eduardo, Khadayate, Sanjay, Singer, Mervyn, Arrigoni, Francesca and Leiper, James (2015) Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 regulates nitric oxide synthesis and hemodynamics and determines outcome in Polymicrobial sepsis. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 35(6), pp. 1382-1392. ISSN (print) 1079-5642

Anim-Nyame, Nick, Ghosh, Anshuman, Freestone, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca (2015) Relationship between insulin resistance and circulating endothelial cells in pre-eclampsia. Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology, 31(10), pp. 788-791. ISSN (print) 1473-0766

Fabbri-Arrigoni, Francesca I., Clarke, Lindsey, Wang, Guosu, Charakida, Marietta, Ellins, Elizabeth, Halliday, Neil, Brogan, Paul A., Deanfield, John E., Halcox, Julian P. and Klein, Nigel (2012) Levels of circulating endothelial cells and colony forming units are influenced by age and dyslipidaemia. Pediatric Research, 72(3), pp. 299-304. ISSN (print) 0031-3998

Arrigoni, Francesca I, Matarin, Mar, Thompson, Pamela J, Michaelides, Michel, McClements, Michelle E, Redmond, Elizabeth, Clarke, Lindsey, Ellins, Elizabeth, Mohamed, Saifullah, Pavord, Ian, Hunt, David M, Moore, Anthony T, Halcox, Julian and Sisodiya, Sanjay M (2011) Extended extraocular phenotype of PROM1 mutation in kindreds with known autosomal dominant macular dystrophy. European Journal of Human Genetics, 19(2), pp. 131-137. ISSN (print) 1018-4813

Arrigoni, Francesca, Ahmetaj, Blerina and Leiper, James (2010) The biology and therapeutic potential of the DDAH/ADMA pathway. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 16(37), pp. 4089-4102. ISSN (print) 1381-6128

Clarke, LA, Hong, Y, Eleftheriou, D, Shah, V, Arrigoni, Francesca, Klein, NJ and Brogan, PA (2010) Endothelial injury and repair in systemic vasculitis of the young. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 62(6), pp. 1770-1780. ISSN (print) 0004-3591

Abdullah, A, Arrigoni, F and Freestone, N (2010) Tumour cell adhesion of endothelial cell monolayer. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 62(10), pp. 1496-1498. ISSN (print) 0022-3573

Clarke, Lindsey, Shah, Vanita, Arrigoni, Francesca, Eleftheriou, D., Hong, Ying, Halcox, Julian, Klein, Nigel and Brogan, Paul (2008) Quantitative detection of circulating endothelial cells in vasculitis: comparison of flow cytometry and immunomagnetic bead extraction. Journal Of Thrombosis And Haemostasis, 6(6), pp. 1025-1032. ISSN (print) 1538-7933

Nandi, Manasi, Leiper, James, Arrigoni, Francesca, Hislop, Alison, Vallance, Patrick and Haywoth, Sheila (2006) Developmental regulation of GTP-CH1 in the porcine lung and its relationship to pulmonary vascular relaxation. Pediatric Research, 59(6), pp. 767-772. ISSN (print) 0031-3998

Smith, Caroline L., Birdsey, Graeme M., Anthony, Shelagh, Arrigoni, Francesca I., Leiper, James M. and Vallance, Patrick (2003) Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase activity modulates ADMA levels, VEGF expression, and cell phenotype. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 308(4), pp. 984-989. ISSN (print) 0006-291X

Arrigoni, Francesca I., Vallance, Patrick, Haworth, Sheila G. and Leiper, James M. (2003) Metabolism of asymmetric dimethylarginines is regulated in the lung developmentally and with pulmonary hypertension induced by hypobaric hypoxia. Circulation, 107(8), pp. 1195-1201. ISSN (print) 0009-7322

Achan, Vinod, Tran, Cam T.L., Arrigoni, Francesca, Whitley, Guy St.J., Leiper, James M. and Vallance, Patrick (2002) all-trans-retinoic acid increases nitric oxide synthesis by endothelial cells: a role for the induction of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase. Circulation Research, 90(7), pp. 764-769. ISSN (print) 0009-7330

Book Section

Leiper, James, Arrigoni, Francesca and Ahmetaj, Blerina (2012) The Therapeutic Potential of Dimethylarginine Dimethylaminohydrolase–Mediated Regulation of Nitric Oxide Synthesis. In: Abraham, David , Handler, Clive , Dashwood, Michael and Coghlan, Gerry, (eds.) Translational Vascular Medicine. London, U.K. : Springer Verlag. pp. (II)61-(II)88. ISBN 9780857299192

Conference or Workshop Item

Arrigoni, Francesca and Conway, Clare (2023) Learning pharmacological science in context using art. In: Innovation and Updates in Teaching and Student Education across Physiology and STEM in the UK; 12-13 Apr 2023, Leeds, U.K.. (In Press)

Arrigoni, Francesca and Blackie, Carmel (2023) Putting STEAM into nursing teaching. In: Innovation and Updates in Teaching and Student Education across Physiology and STEM in the UK; 12-13 Apr 2023, Leeds, U.K.. (In Press)

Halliday, Loryn, Freestone, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca (2021) Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase levels in blood outgrowth endothelial cells. In: Physiology 2021; 12-16 Jul 2021, Held online.

Halliday, L., Brogan, P., Freestone, N. and Arrigoni, F. (2020) ADA2 expression and activity in blood outgrowth endothelial cells. In: 3rd International Conference on Deficiency of Adenosine Deaminase 2 : Driving Toward Consensus; 17-19 Nov 2020, Held online. (Unpublished)

Halliday, Loryn, Esposito, Giulia, Brogan, Paul, Freestone, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca (2019) Adenosine deaminase 2 restores the endothelial glycocalyx of blood outgrowth endothelial cells. In: Future Physiology 2019 : Translating Cellular Mechanisms into Lifelong Health Strategies; 17-18 Dec 2019, Liverpool, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Halliday, Loryn, Brogan, Paul, Freestone, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca (2019) Influence of adenosine deaminase 2, on the angiogenic function of blood outgrowth endothelial cells. In: Pharmacology 2019; 15-17 Dec 2019, Edinburgh, U.K..

Luckhurst, Natasha, Kenny, Julia, Hunter, Patricia, Freestone, Nicholas, Klein, Nigel and Arrigoni, Francesca (2019) Circulating microparticle levels in children following the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. In: British Society for Immunology (BSI) Congress 2019; 02-05 Dec 2019, Liverpool, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Luckhurst, Natasha, Hunter, Patricia, Freestone, Nicholas, Klein, Nigel and Arrigoni, Francesca (2019) Monocyte-derived microparticles activate human monocytes and promote their transendothelial migration. In: British Society for Immunology (BSI) Congress 2019; 02-05 Dec 2019, Liverpool, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Halliday, L., Brogan, P., Freestone, N. and Arrigoni, F. (2019) Adenosine deaminase 2 promotes growth and migration of blood outgrowth endothelial cells, in the presence of adenosine. In: First Symposium on Synthesis & Drug Discovery; 01 Nov 2019, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Arrigoni, Francesca, Micallef, Ricarda and Wason, Hilary (2019) Embedding critical thinking skills in the scientific curricula : how good are we? In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference : Making Connections and Sharing Pedagogy; 03 -04 Jul 2019, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Kelly, Christine, Tinago, Willard, Garcia Abner, Alejandro, Hunter, Patricia, Alber, Dagmar, Luckhurst, Natasha, Connolly, Jake, Arrigoni, Francesca, Kamngona, Ralph, Mallon, Patrick, Mwandumba, Henry, Walker, Sarah, Khoo, Saye and Klein, Nigel (2019) Inflammatory phenotypes predict pulse wave velocity change on ART in Malawian adults. In: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) 2019; 04-07 Mar 2019, Seattle, U.S.. (Unpublished)

Luckhurst, N., Kenny, J., Hunter, P., Freestone, N., Klein, N. and Arrigoni, F. (2018) Alterations in cellular microparticle levels as a marker of cellular activation and injury in children with HIV infection. In: 36th Annual European Society of Infectious Diseases (ESPID) Meeting : Advances in Paediatric Infectious Diseases; 28 May - 02 Jun 2018, Malmo, Sweden. (Unpublished)

Wason, Hilary, Whiting, Cheryl and Arrigoni, Francesca (2018) A tale of three faculties : addressing student's barriers to critical thinking using a collaborative learning and teaching approach. In: Learning, Teaching & Student Experience (LTSE) 2018; 24-25 Apr 2018, Glasgow, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Wason, Hilary, Whiting, Cheryl and Arrigoni, Fran (2017) How do we transform our students critical thinking abilities? In: St George's, University of London's Education Day 2017 : Transformation; 15 Nov 2017, London, U.K..

Wason, Hilary, Whiting, Cheryl and Arrigoni, Fran (2017) Transforming our teaching : using the Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit. In: St George's, University of London's Education Day 2017 : Transformation; 15 Nov 2017, London, U.K..

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:02:25 2023 BST.

Leadership and management

I contribute to leadership and management in numerous supportive roles mentoring students and staff alike:

Roles and Responsabilities

  • Aurora Leadership programme
  • Champion of Critical Thinking in SEC, CPD courses 
  • Athena SWAN faculty group member
  • Laboratory manager of primary cell culture & IRTL governance group

University responsibilities

  • Athena SWAN faculty team
  • Primary Cell culture manager in LSPC

Social media

LinkedIn