Research Experience

PhD Bath University (1990)

Post Doctoral Positions (1990-2009)

Bristol University, Oxford University & The Buck Institute

for Research on Aging

Consultancy & Committees

London Technology Business Fellow (2006-2010)

Oxford Metabolism Committee (2014-)

MitOX (2009-)

Current Research Funding

ME Association UK, UK Spine Bridge

Group Members

Tiffany Lodge (Post Doctoral Researcher)

Daniel Chapero-Hall (Placement Student)

Jamie Strong (Data Assistant)

Sarah Hutchinson ( Post Doctoral Researcher)

Enquiries  from prospective PhD students are always welcome

ME/CFS RESEARCH PROJECT FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN

Funds raised so far 7/5/2020 = £748.35

This includes a fantastic effort by St Mary's School Ascot would raised £194.85 in a year 9 cake sale.

A big thank you goes to Alexandra Atassi who proposed ME/CFS as a fund raising activity to the year group.

Currently we have enough to employ a highly trained Post Doctoral Research to work with reagents in our lab for a week. With the Covid 19 crisis at the moment this is a great start!

Many thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

Karl

I  run an active research group with a focus on understanding the role  of mitochondria in health and disease.

Current projects include (i)  targeting energy metabolism as a therapeutic strategy in cancer and (ii) identifying fatigue associated blood factors in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and iii) development of Raman Microscopy as a tool to study energy metabolism and drug accumulation

Research allows you to develop exciting collaborations with a wide range of people from different disciplines. Establishing  collaborative research projects is one of my major passions and I am always interested in discussing exciting new projects.

Individuals interested in research in any of the areas above or  below are welcome to contact me.

MitOX meeting.  April 3rd 2020, John Radcliffe Hospital. This in an annual meeting which brings together mitochondrial enthusiasts from Oxford and the South East. Currently in it's eleventh year MitOX is very popular with over 140 delegates attending  last year.

Collaborations within NDWRH

Professor Joanna Poulton:  Investigating the pathogenesis and treatment strategies in patients with mitochondrial disease. Joanna and I have worked together on a wide range of projects for over 20 years

Dr Helen Townley:  Nanotherapeutic delivery of anti-cancer therapeutics. Project supported by Williams fund. Helen and I work closely developing novel nanoparticle drug combinations which can target cancer cell metabolism. Helen is part of NDWRH and  runs a laboratory at the Begbroke Science Park.

Dr  Suzannah Williams: Developing metabolic tools to study follicular development.

Exciting new research initiative in ME/CFS

In collaboration with researchers in Poland, Spain and Oxford we are launching a £1.6 million campaign to support clinical research infrastructure in the three countries and to explore the exciting new research area linking the presence of L-form bacteria and fungi as a key disease driver in  ME/CFS. The project will focus on the Diagnosis and management of ME/CFS: understanding the biology and identifying therapeutic targets.

Our industrial collaborator SoftCell Biologicals have already committed $750,000 to the project to support whole genome sequencing bacteria in the blood of patients and controls. 

The project will run over 5 years and allow us to build towards competitive funding applications to  larger UK funders.

Our priority project is an Oxford based L-form project in ME/CFS, Stroke and Lymphoma this will run over 2 years recruiting 400 patients and controls. To reach our running budget we need to raise £203,000 by December 2020. Details on the project are shown in the PDF link below.

Click here to see the Full Project Plan PDF (Research and Budget)

Click here to see Project Summary PDF

To donate please visit our donations page here: www.development.ox.ac.uk/mecfs

Your donation will contribute to important research on the causes of ME/CFS, helping us work towards better diagnosis and management.

With between 20-30 million people affected worldwide and associated family and friends we are very hopeful we can reach our target.

Talk from the 2020 Bristol CMRC meeting including L-form data

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yyusmxizQk&list=PLJV2oZMsotON2WJSXHBx-e09WUhkKdhCI&index=12&t=0s

Collaborations within Oxford.

Professor James McCullagh (Department of Chemistry). Using plasma mass spectrometry analysis to increase our understanding of ME/CFS.

Professor Wei Huang (Department of Engineering). Exploring the use of Raman Microscopy as a diagnostic tool in ME/CFS and as a tool to study the biology of aging in vitro.

Professor Helen Dawes and Dr Ryan Pink (Oxford Brookes University). Investigating the impact of plasma factors generated during exercise on cellular energetics from healthy controls and Parkinson's disease patients.

National  and International Collaborators

Professor Jeung Sang Go (Pussan National University, South Korea). Various microfluidic projects including i) Continual synthesis of protein loaded nanoparticles ii) microvesicle separation and iii) 3D perfusion models for continual cell culture.

SoftCell Biologicals and the Dove Clinic: Understanding the changes in plasma L-form bacterial load in ME/CFS patients following faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and the link to clinical improvement.

Professor Elisa Oltra (Catholic University of Valencia San Vincente Martir): The role of exosomes and plasma factors in ME/CFS.

Dr Pawel Zalewski (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland): Pawel is an essential clinical collaborator for our ME/CFS research programme providing us with clinically diagnosed patient plasma samples for our various research studies. The impact of a structured exercise programme and cryotherapy on clinical and biological markers of ME/CFS is also being explored.