5 May 2022
\n \n \n \nDPAG scientists across four research groups were highlighted at the major annual European Society of Cardiology basic science conference (FCVB 2022). Congratulations are in order for Dr KC Park on receiving the Young Investigator Award and to Dr Elisabetta Gamen on winning the Moderated Poster Prize.
\n \n\n \n \n19 April 2022
\n \n \n \nDr Matthew Stower was selected to give an oral presentation of his work and his abstract won the second prize at the Joint Spring Meeting of the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) and the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB).
\n \n\n \n \n13 April 2022
\n \n \n \nResearch led by Dr Alzbeta Hulikova and Professor Pawel Swietach has, for the first time, described the potential regulation of nuclear acid-base chemistry in neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes, and explained its relevance in the context of heart physiology and pathology.
\n \n\n \n \n25 March 2022
\n \n \n \nA new Novo Nordisk project paper has uncovered the role of ACC1 enzyme in the regulation of glucagon secretion for the first time. This raises the prospect of a potential new therapeutic target in the context of type 2 diabetes and metabolic disorders characterised by hyperglycaemia.
\n \n\n \n \n11 March 2022
\n \n \n \nA new paper led by Dr Johanna Michl and Professor Pawel Swietach from DPAG\u2019s Swietach Group has identified a new gene that allows cancer cells to survive in the typically acidic microenvironment of a malignant tumour. They have discovered drugs that inhibit the gene in other medical conditions also selectively kill cancer cells at acidic pH, without damaging healthy tissue. This defines a novel strategy for targeting acidic tumour regions.
\n \n\n \n \n11 March 2022
\n \n \n \nA new study from Dr Yanfeng Zhang has uncovered the first evidence that dopamine-dependent long-term potentiation is also gated by the pause of striatal cholinergic interneurons and the depolarisation of the striatal spiny projection neurons. This discovery overturns previous ideas that the phasic dopamine release is the only factor gate corticostriatal synaptic plasticity, thus changing our understanding of dopamine functions in reinforcement learning.
\n \n\n \n \n14 February 2022
\n \n \n \nTwo projects aimed at tackling heart failure led by Associate Professor Sarah De Val and Dr Joaquim Vieira are to be funded by the 2022 TCS London Marathon with the British Heart Foundation as its Charity of the Year. The BHF\u2019s runners, who are raising \u00a33 million in funding, will include De Val Lab postdoctoral researcher Dr Alice Neal.
\n \n\n \n \n31 January 2022
\n \n \n \nA major collaborative study, in which DPAG\u2019s Dr James Grist plays a key role, involving teams in the universities of Oxford, Sheffield, Cardiff and Manchester, has identified abnormalities in the lungs of Long Covid patients who are experiencing breathlessness. Researchers are using a novel xenon gas scanning method to locate damaged areas that cannot be detected by routine scans.
\n \n\n \n \n21 January 2022
\n \n \n \nA department-wide image competition has yielded a range of stunning images showcasing the diversity and breadth of DPAG's science. Three prize winners and eight commended pictures are announced.
\n \n\n \n \n18 November 2021
\n \n \n \nScientists have shed light on an important stage of early embryonic development that has never been fully mapped out in humans before.
\n \n\n \n \n14 September 2021
\n \n \n \nDr Richard Tyser is this year\u2019s winner of the Bernard and Joan Marshall Early Career Investigator Prize, and Dr Jack Miller has received a runner-up award, at the British Society of Cardiovascular Research Autumn Meeting.
\n \n\n \n \n25 August 2021
\n \n \n \nDPAG Postdoctoral Research Scientist Dr Xin Sun has been shortlisted in the British Heart Foundation\u2019s (BHF) annual \u2018Reflections of Research\u2019 image competition.
\n \n\n \n \n6 August 2021
\n \n \n \nFollowing the successful identification of long-term previously invisible lung damage in post-Covid patients, a large NIHR grant will enable a University of Oxford team including DPAG's Dr James Grist to continue this crucial work to shed light on why people with confirmed Long Covid continue to experience breathlessness following recovery from Covid-19.
\n \n\n \n \n7 July 2021
\n \n \n \nCongratulations are in order for Postdoctoral Research Scientist Dr Huriye Atilgan who has been awarded a prestigious Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship funded by the Wellcome Trust.
\n \n\n \n \n8 June 2021
\n \n \n \nIn animal models, iron deficient mothers have a greatly increased risk of having offspring with congenital heart disease (CHD). The risk of CHD can be greatly reduced if the mother is given iron supplements very early in pregnancy. Additionally, embryos from a mouse model of Down Syndrome were particularly vulnerable to the effects of maternal iron deficiency, leading to a higher risk of developing severe heart defects.
\n \n\n \n \n4 March 2021
\n \n \n \nBetina Ip, a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow based in NDCN, formerly a postdoctoral research scientist in DPAG, has written a book for children: The Usborne Book of the Brain and How it Works.
\n \n\n \n \n21 January 2021
\n \n \n \nUniversity of Oxford researchers from the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) and the Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with The 1928 Institute, have published a major new study on the impact of COVID-19 on the UK\u2019s largest BME population.
\n \n\n \n \n8 January 2021
\n \n \n \nThe earliest known progenitor of the outermost layer of the heart has been characterised for the first time and linked to the development of other critical cell types in the developing heart in a new paper from the Srinivas group led by BHF Immediate Fellow Dr Richard Tyser.
\n \n\n \n \n2 December 2020
\n \n \n \nIn a new study into the longer-term damage amongst patients recovering from COVID-19, DPAG Research Fellow Dr James Grist of the Tyler Lab has been running a novel scanning technique that shows a dramatic decrease in the ability of the lungs to diffuse gas in to the blood stream after COVID infection. This work may shed light on the problem of breathlessness after COVID infection and help guide us in understanding therapeutic selection and efficacy.
\n \n\n \n \n19 November 2020
\n \n \n \nNew research led by Oxford BHF CRE Intermediate Transition Fellow Dr Kerstin Timm shows that a recently developed imaging technique pioneered by the Tyler Group can detect early metabolic changes in the heart caused by a commonly used chemotherapy drug, which is known to increase risk of heart failure in cancer survivors.
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