Lee D. Troughton, PhD

Research Associate Professor of Ophthalmology

Education

B.S. - Hons Biomedical Science, University of Sunderland, UK
M.S. - Res. Clinical Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
Ph.D. - Cell and molecular biology, University of Liverpool, UK

Research Interests

Wound healing

Defective wound repair is a major clinical burden, be it for recurrent corneal erosions, severe dry eye disease, chronic diabetic wounds, or skin blistering disorders. Developing a greater understanding of the fundamental processes involved in normal and pathogenic wound repair/ impaired tissue homeostasis is a prerequisite to the development of new or improved therapeutic approaches. My work as part of the Hamill lab (Liverpool, UK), focusses on the laminin family of extracellular matrix proteins, and their specific roles in wound re-epithelialization and angiogenesis. We identified that a novel splice variant of laminin alpha 3, LaNt alpha 31, plays a role in regulating the cell-matrix adhesion complex- hemidesmosomes, which are crucial for epithelial migration and adhesion.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma involves aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling, particularly in the lamina cribrosa (optic nerve head) and trabecular meshwork (to control aqueous outflow), leading to stiffening, altered cell behaviour, and neurodegeneration. My work as part of the Beach-Oakes lab (Chicago, US) focussed on understanding the role of cellular metabolism in regulating cellular contractility- a crucial function that controls cell motility and ECM (tissue) remodelling. I am now leveraging our understanding of contractility regulation to identify potential targets for primary open angle glaucoma.

Ocular Drug Discovery/ Delivery

Now, based out of the Kaja lab (Chicago, US), my work combines my research expertise to address some of the challenging clinical problems of today- accelerating therapeutic discovery for dry eye disease, and improving ocular drug delivery and efficacy. We aim to target the inflammation and oxidative stress- linked components of dry eye disease using novel compounds and repurposed FDA-approved therapeutics, while further developing existing approved compounds to enhance corneal permeability for better drug delivery to the anterior and posterior chambers.

Publications/Research Listings

2025

Sala S, Troughton LD, Chandrasekar S, Beach JR, Oakes PW. LIM Domain Proteins Recognize Tensed Actin at Cell Adhesions. 2025. [Preprint].
Troughton LD, Iorio V, Shaw L, Simoens D, Sugden CJ, Sala S, Jaja K, Yamamoto K, Hamill KJ. Laminin N-terminus α31 regulates keratinocyte adhesion and migration through modifying the organisation and proteolytic processing of laminin 332. 2025. [Preprint].

2023

Wang Y, Troughton LD, Xu F, Chatterjee A, Ding C, Zhao H, Cifuentes LP, Wagner RB, Wang T, Tan S, Chen J, Li L, Umulis D, Kuang S, Suter DM, Yuan C, Chan D, Huang F, Oakes PW, and Qing D. Atypical peripheral actin band formation via overactivation of RhoA and Non-muscle myosin II in Mitofusin 2 deficient cells. ELife. 2023. doi: 7554/eLife.88828
Vitriol EA, Quintanilla MA, Tidei JJ, Troughton LD, Cody A, Cisterna BA, Jane MK, Oakes PW, and Beach JR. Non-muscle myosin 2 filaments are processive in cells. Biophys J. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.05.014.

2022

Sugden CJ, Iorio V, Troughton LD, Liu K, Bou-Gharios G and Hamill KJ. Laminin N-terminus α31 expression during development is lethal and causes widespread tissue-specific defects in a transgenic mouse model. 2022. FASEB J. doi: 10.1096/fj.202002588RRR
Troughton LD, O’Loughlin DA, Zech T, Hamill KJ. LaNt a31 is upregulated in invasive ductal carcinoma and changes the mode of tumour invasion. 2022. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264430

2021

Coco G, Hamill KJ, Troughton LT, Kaye SB, Romano V. Risk factors for corneal epithelial wound healing: Can sex play a role? 2021. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1177/11206721211066705
Marcotti S, Belo de Freitas D, Troughton LD, Kenny FN, Shaw TJ, Stramer BM, and Oakes PW. A Workflow for Rapid Unbiased Quantification of Fibrillar Feature Alignment in Biological Images. 2021. Front. Comput. Sci. doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2021.745831
Vaselli NM, Setiabudi W, Subramaniam K, Adams ER, Turtle L, Iturriza-Gómara M, Solomon T, Cunliffe NA, French N, Hungerford D; COVID-LIV Study Group. Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 faecal shedding in the community: a prospective household cohort study (COVID-LIV) in the UK. BMJ Infect Dis. doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-06443-7
Setiabudi W, Hungerford D, Subramaniam K, Vaselli NM, Shaw VE, Wilton M, Vivancos R, Aston S, Platt G, Moitt T, Jones AP, Gabbay M, Buchan I, Carrol ED, Iturriza-Gomara M, Solomon T, Greenhalf W, Naisbitt DJ, Adams ER, Cunliffe NA, Turtle L, French N; COVID-LIV Study Group. Prospective observational study of SARS-CoV-2 infection, transmission and immunity in a cohort of households in Liverpool City Region, UK (COVID-LIV): a study protocol. BMJ Open. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048317

2020

Troughton LD, Reuten R, Sugden CJ, Hamill KJ. Laminin N-terminus α31 protein distribution in adult human tissues. 2020. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239889

2018

Troughton LD and Barrera V, Iorio V, Liu S, Oyewole O, Sheridan CM, Hamill KJ. Differential Distribution of Laminin N-Terminus α31 Across the Ocular Surface: Implications for Corneal Wound Repair. 2018. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 10.1167/iovs.18-24037
Troughton LD, Barrera V, Brown L, Zech T, Willoughby CE, Risk JM, Hamill KJ. A splicing switch provides dual layer control of laminin alpha3: Implications for squamous cell carcinoma. J Invest Dermatol. 10.1016/j.jid.2018.03.876.

2017

Pratt H and Hassanin K, Troughton LD, Czanner G, Zheng Y, McCormick AG and Hamill KJ. UV imaging reveals facial areas that are prone to skin cancer are disproportionately missed during sunscreen application. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185297

2015

Iorio V, Troughton LD, Hamill KJ. Laminins: Roles and Utility in Wound Repair. 2015. Adv Wound Care. doi: 10.1089/wound.2014.0533