Research

Research in the Department is carried out by several strong, independent but interrelated groups addressing the challenges of modern biomedical research. The research programmes include many aspects of neuroscience, cardiac science, cellular physiology, endocrinology, developmental biology and functional genetics. To implement a coherent scientific strategy, while encouraging individual freedom, researchers are brought together under six specific research themes highlighted below, including themes that cut across all research in the department. In addition, research in multiple themes impacts on our understanding of many human diseases. This structure promotes a range of innovative multidisciplinary basic research programmes, some of which translate all the way to the clinic.

CARDIAC SCIENCE AND METABOLIC CONTROL DPAG hosts the Burdon Sanderson Cardiac Science Centre (BSCSC), a multidisciplinary centre, which is dedicated to the science of normal and abnormal cardiac function. Its mission is to innovate and develop avenues of basic research using multi-scale experimental and computational techniques (from molecule to myocardium), studies that underpin and complement the disease-led programmes of research within Clinical Departments of the Medical Sciences Division. There are also links in DPAG to highly respected authorities on human respiratory control, with strong interests in cellular and whole body integrative responses to hypoxia, and their genetic basis. Researchers in this theme See also Cardiovascular science at Oxford Human Physiome Project at Oxford

DEVELOPMENT AND REPRODUCTION Development and Reproduction is a major research area in DPAG that cuts across all other themes. There are groups in the Department working with almost all the major model organisms, including mouse, chick, flies and worms. These groups not only have interests in a range of specific developmental mechanisms, but also provide a collaborative and interactive platform to analyse the functions of novel genes emerging from new genetic and genome-based studies, permitting the creation of animal disease models and the identification of new drug targets. Researchers in this theme

ION CHANNELS, TRANSPORTERS AND SIGNALLING Ion Channels, Transporters and Signalling (ITS) is a cross-cutting theme that underpins all other DPAG themes. Ion channels, transporters and signalling proteins are found in all cells, and underlie almost all physiological processes. ITS is studied at many levels in DPAG, from structural studies of ion channels, to their functional roles within cells and organs, right up to their role in behaviour and human disease. Many human and animal diseases derive from impaired regulation of, or mutations in, the genes encoding ITS proteins and consequently these proteins are increasingly important drug targets. There continues to be outstanding work within DPAG in this area, with several groups translating basic science into clinical practice. Researchers in this theme See also OXION: Ion Channels and Disease Initiative The Oxford Centre for Gene Function

NEUROSCIENCE Neuroscience represents the largest theme within DPAG, with interests that range from fundamental questions concerning the flow and processing of information within cells, circuits and systems, to the generation and repair of neural circuits and the study of neuromuscular and neurological disorders. Neuroscience’s strategic goal for the next decade is to utilize these diverse strengths to marry a long tradition in integrative neurophysiology to new molecular-genetic/genomic approaches that promise to deliver mechanistic answers to circuit- and systems-level questions. Researchers in this theme See also Neuroscience at Oxford The MRC Functional Genomics Unit

FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS Genomics has created new lines of investigation, not only in basic biology, but also now in translational research due to the advent of more efficient, and cost-effective, sequencing technologies. Genomic information has begun to transform both the understanding of disease mechanisms and the management/treatment of patients. The major strength in functional genomics in DPAG is led by the MRC Functional Genomics Unit. However, several other researchers in the department have strong interests in using genomics technologies to address fundamental biological problems. Researchers in this theme See also The MRC Functional Genomics Unit

METABOLISM AND ENDOCRINOLOGY Defects in metabolic and endocrine control underlie many of the most common human diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Metabolic research is a major theme within DPAG, which cuts across the principal research themes. There are interests in a diverse range of metabolic and endocrinological areas, including hypoxia, substrate and energy metabolism, and metabolic control in heart, brain and skeletal muscle, oxygen sensing, and human respiratory and vascular control, neuronal proton sensing, proton generation and regulation in the heart and in tumours, steroid signalling, Ca2+ signalling, control of insulin secretion and insulin signalling. Researchers in this theme