Dr Thomas Tull, BSc(hons), MBBS, PhD, MRCP(UK)(Dermatology)
Dr Tull is a Consultant Dermatologist and Research Fellow at St John’s Institute of Dermatology in London, which is an internationally recognised centre of clinical excellence.
He studied medicine at Imperial College London and graduated with distinction. During his dermatology training he completed a PhD in Immunology which investigated how the immune system develops and how this is defective in autoimmune conditions such as lupus.
His scientific work has been presented at international conferences and published in high impact scientific journals such as Nature Immunology and The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Dr Tull has a breadth of experience in general dermatology and skin cancer and also has sub specialty expertise in complex inflammatory skin conditions including cutaneous lupus and autoimmune blistering diseases such as bullous pemphigoid.
Expertise
General dermatology
Acne, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, urticaria (hives) and hair loss.
Skin lesions
Mole checks, sun damage, cysts, benign skin lesions.
Immune mediated skin conditions
Cutaneous lupus and connective tissue disease.
Autoimmune blistering disorders such as pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid.
Other
Hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating), pigmentation disorders.
Surgery and procedures:
Diagnostic biopsy of skin rashes and lesions
Excision (removal) or skin lesions
Cryotherapy (freezing)
Steroid injections to treat alopecia or scarring
Research
My research is focussed on the role of B lymphocytes in autoimmune skin diseases. B lymphocytes are critically important in protecting us from infection by the production of antibodies. However, in certain autoimmune diseases they produce harmful antibodies that bind the body’s own tissues that leads to inflammation and damage. The reason why this occurs is, however, not known.
My PhD focussed on the role of the gut in programming B lymphocytes during their early development. The gut houses more immune cells that any other organ in the body and I identified a subset of B lymphocytes that home into the gut and are stimulated to develop in a certain way. I identified that this is defective in lupus where these cells are missing, which suggests that defective maturation of immune cells in lupus is important in the disease process.
My recent research has focussed on using high dimensional imaging techniques to deeply analyse the immune cells within the skin. This has led to new insights into the type of inflammatory cells that are present in the skin of patients with diseases such as cutaneous lupus and pemphigus.
Having been awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Fellowship, I now lead a research team at Guy’s Hospital focussed on the investigation and treatment of autoimmune skin disease.
Selected Publications
Velounias RL, Tull TJ. Human B cell subset identification and changes in inflammatory diseases. Clin Exp Immunol. 2023 Jan 7:uxac104. doi: 10.1093/cei/uxac104.
Spencer J, Bemark M, Tull TJ. Human B cells. Clin Exp Immunol. 2022 Dec 13. doi: 10.1093/cei/uxac110
Siu JHY, Pitcher MJ, Tull TJ, Velounias RL, Guesdon W, Montorsi L, Mahbubani KT, Ellis R, Dhami P, Todd K, Kadolsky UD, Kleeman M, D'Cruz DP, Saeb-Parsy K, Bemark M, Pettigrew GJ, Spencer J. Two subsets of human marginal zone B cells resolved by global analysis of lymphoid tissues and blood. Sci Immunol. 2022 Mar 18;7(69).
Tull TJ, Benton E. Immunobullous disease. Clin Med (Lond). 2021 May;21(3):162-165.
Tull TJ, Pitcher MJ, Guesdon W, Siu JHY, Lebrero-Fernández C, Zhao Y, Petrov N, Heck S, Ellis R, Dhami P, Kadolsky UD, Kleeman M, Kamra Y, Fear DJ, John S, Jassem W, Groves RW, Sanderson JD, Robson MD, D'Cruz DP, Bemark M, Spencer J. Human marginal zone B cell development from early T2 progenitors. J Exp Med. 2021 Apr 5;218(4)
Tull TJ, Martin B, Spencer J, Sangle S, Chua S, McGrath JA, D'Cruz DP, McGibbon DH. Sneddon syndrome associated with two novel ADA2 gene mutations. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2020 Jun 1;59(6):1448-1450.
Tull TJ, Jackson K, Smith CH, Pink AE. Developing an online patient education resource for topical therapy: a pilot study. Br J Dermatol. 2020 Feb;182(2):508-509.
Pararasa C, Zhang N, Tull TJ, Chong MHA, Siu JHY, Guesdon W, Chavele KM, Sanderson JD, Langmead L, Kok K, Spencer J, Vossenkamper A. Reduced CD27-IgD- B Cells in Blood and Raised CD27-IgD- B Cells in Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Front Immunol. 2019 Mar 5;10:361
Zhao Y, Uduman M, Siu JHY, Tull TJ, Sanderson JD, Wu YB, Zhou JQ, Petrov N, Ellis R, Todd K, Chavele KM, Guesdon W, Vossenkamper A, Jassem W, D'Cruz DP, Fear DJ, John S, Scheel-Toellner D, Hopkins C, Moreno E, Woodman NL, Ciccarelli F, Heck S, Kleinstein SH, Bemark M, Spencer J. Spatiotemporal segregation of human marginal zone and memory B cell populations in lymphoid tissue. Nat Commun. 2018 Sep 21;9(1):3857.
Tull TJ, Noy M, Bunker CB, Francis ND, Morar N. Sebopsoriasis in patients with HIV: a case series of 20 patients. Br J Dermatol. 2017 Mar;176(3):813-815.
Tull TJ, Toma T, Menage H. Reversible Interstitial Lung Disease following treatment of atopic dermatitis with mycophenolate mofetil. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2016 Aug;41(6):702-3.
Tull TJ, Daramola OO, Banerjee P, Giles A, Hoque S. A Bleeding Umbilical Nodule. American Journal of Dermatopathology. Am J Dermatopathol. 2017 Apr;39(4):318.
Tull TJ, Pink A, Benton E, D’Cruz D. Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus. Br J Hosp Med (Lond). 2015 Nov;76(11):C162-5.
Tull T, Papineni P, Mee J, Cook C, Bower M, Morar N, Nelson M. Paraneoplastic Pemphigus in a patient with HIV infection. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2014 Jan;39(1):83-5.
Dr Thomas Tull is recognised by the following insurers:
