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

Williams Fund, ME association UK

Group Members

Michelle Potter (Post Doctoral Researcher)

Emma Newport (Placement Student)

Enquiries  from prospective PhD students are always welcome

In addition to my laboratory manager role 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) establishing protocols to assess mitochondrial function in neutrophils and monocytes.

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.  December 6th 2016, John Radcliffe Hospital. This in an annual meeting which brings together mitochondrial enthusiasts from Oxford and the South East. Currently in it's eighth year MitOX is very popular with over 170 delegates attending  last year.

Collaborations within NDWRH

Professor Joanna Poulton:  Investigating the pathogenesis and treatment strategies in patients with mitochondrial disease. Two research grants are currently active: (i) Investigating the biology of mitochondrial DNA disease transmission to enable affected families to have healthy children (MRC) and (ii) Developing treatments for mtDNA diseases (Welcome Trust). 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 Joris Hemelaar & Dr Michelle Fernandes: The impact of mitochondrial associated drug toxicity in foetal development. This is a new project idea and is still at the drawing board stage deciding which drugs used in pregnancy we should test in our in vitro models

Professor Christian Becker & Professor Krina Zondervan: Therapeutic strategies in Endometriosis. Project supported by Bayer. This is an exciting project just about to start investigating new therapeutic targets and treatment strategies in Endometriosis.

Collaborations within Oxford.

Dr Leanne Hodson (OCDEM), Dr Charlotte Green and Mr Mike Silva (NDS). Development and validation of a human hepatocyte model to  investigate how liver fat metabolism influences metabolic disease. This work involves using isolate human hepatocytes and a human liver stem cell to study a variety of disease processes in the liver.

Dr Brad Sutherland (RDM). Development of in vitro embryonic neuronal models to assess foetal drug toxicity. This is a pilot project with Mrs Tiffany Lodge investigating the effect of the anti-epileptic drug Sodium Valproate on foetal neuronal development.

Professor Peter Friend (NDS) & Mr David Nassralla. This study investigates protective role of normothermic recirculation in preventing ischaemia reperfusion injury in human liver. Our current hypothesis is that ischaemia associated liver graft failure is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction and failed bioenergetics. In the future this collaboration will be investigating samples from the Consortium for Organ Preservation Europe trial.

Dr Steve Sheard (Eng), Professor Ian Sargent & Dr Rebecca Dragovic  (NDOG). Continuous separation of cellular micro and nanovesicles for the early detection of pre-eclampsia and use as cancer biomarkers.

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.