Kyung Chan (KC) Park

BSc (Hons)

British Heart Foundation DPhil Student

Focus: Cellular physiology of the cardiac myocyte

My longstanding interest in the biology of the heart led me to focus on a range of topics pertaining to cardiovascular science during my undergraduate degree (Biomedical Sciences, King’s College London; First Class Honours). Under the supervision of Professor Michael Marber, my dissertation considered cardiac troponin as a commonly used biomarker, but an imperfect, index of myocardial injury (review).

After graduating in 2015, I subsequently joined the laboratory of Professor Michael Shattock at the Rayne Institute (BHF Centre of Research Excellence, King’s College London) on a Physiological Society Studentship, primarily to identify stimulators of the cardiac Na/K ATPase. During the studentship, I also assessed the cardioprotective effects of thrombopoietin against ischaemia/reperfusion injury (Dr Michael Curtis) and studied the role of action potential restitution on arrhythmogenesis (Dr James Winter; article & editorial comment).

In 2016, I commenced the British Heart Foundation 4-Year Non-Clinical PhD Studentship in Cardiovascular Science at the University of Oxford, as a Postgraduate Student of The Queen’s College. After a rotation project with Assoc. Prof. Craig Lygate (Cardiac Energetics Group), I joined the Department in 2017 as a DPhil student of Prof. Pawel Swietach and the Proton Transport Laboratory. The Group’s research focusses on the role of pH and calcium in the physiology of the heart and cancer. In keeping with these interests, under co-supervision from Assoc. Prof. Nicola Smart, my doctoral research will investigate the effects of metabolic acidoses associated with inborn errors of metabolism on cardiac physiology. In particular, I will explore the effects of propionate on the heart at the molecular, cellular, and organ-level. By combining techniques in physiology, biochemistry and genetics in an integrative approach, I hope to gain a greater understanding of how organic anions such as propionate affect cardiac physiology in health and disease.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I volunteered to pause my PhD project in order to carry out research on COVID-19. This work is ongoing and the first part has been published: New evidence against one proposed mechanism of hypoxia in COVID-19.

Recent awards

July 2020: Paul Dudley White International Scholar, American Heart Association.

June 2020: Best Talk (Joint 1st), Sherrington Talks, Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics.

September 2019: Best Poster, Wellcome Trust OXION Annual Symposium (Integrative Physiology Initiative in Ion Channels and Diseases of Electrically Excitable Cells).

September 2019: Poster Commendation, Oxford BHF Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium.