Tom Keeley

Mammals have evolved complex mechanisms to sense and respond to changes in oxygenation on a variety of different time scales, ranging from seconds to thousands of years. Adaptation to a hypoxic environment occurs within 24 hours of exposure and is coordinated by the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) transcription factors. Preceding this are a range of ‘reactive’ responses to hypoxia which, although well-grounded in physiology, are generally poorly understood at a molecular level. My work seeks to understand the biochemistry and physiology of acute and short-term cellular and organismal responses to hypoxia, focusing on two main areas: (i) rapid electrophysiological responses in specialised O₂ sensing cell types, and (ii) control of G-protein signalling by via ADO-dependent proteasomal regulation. I employ a range of biochemistry, molecular biology and physiological techniques to study these processes in cultured cells and in isolated tissues ex vivo.

I received a B.Sc. in Physiology from King’s College London, where I then undertook a Ph.D with Prof. Giovanni Mann exploring responses to low O₂ conditions in endothelial cells. After a brief post-doc at KCL, I joined the Ratcliffe Lab in 2018 to work on novel hypoxia signalling pathways. In 2020 I took up a Junior Research Fellowship in medical sciences at St. Catherine’s College.