Professor Martin Feelisch MSc, PhD

Professor of Experimental Medicine and Integrative Biology

Martin is Professor of Experimental Medicine and Integrative Biology within Medicine at the University of Southampton.

In biology, a finite number of regulatory modules and organising principles suffice to support life and are used by microbes, plants and mammals alike. As a Systems Biologist (with a predilection toward evolutionary thought and a knack for analytical chemistry) I am interested in unraveling the significance of nitric oxide and sulfur in its various forms for human physiology. Specifically, I aim to understand how their production and availabilities are regulated in the face of rapidly changing demands as a function of nutrient and oxygen supply, physical activity and interaction with the environment; and – above all - how this is orchestrated at the cellular, organ and whole body level.

After the study of pharmacy Martin earned his PhD in pharmacology from the Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf in 1988. He was appointed to the Personal Chair of Experimental Medicine & Integrative Biology at Southampton University in April 2012, following a number of other senior research positions in both academia and industry in the USA and Europe.

Qualifications

BSc/MSc (Diploma), Pharmacy, Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, 1985
PhD (summa cum laude), Pharmacology, Heinrich-Heine University, 1988
Specialist for Drug Information, Apothekerkammer Nordrhein, 1992
Expert in Pharmacology, German Society for Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT), 1992
Habilitation (venia legendi), Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Cologne, 1997

Appointments held

Professor of Experimental Medicine & Integrative Biology, University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine, 2012-present
Honorary Associate Professor, University College London, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, 2019-present
Professor of Experimental Medicine and Biology, University of Warwick Medical School and Warwick Systems Biology Centre (MRC Strategic Appointment), 2007-2012
Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry, Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, Boston University School of Medicine (Boston, USA), 2003-2007
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (Shreveport, USA), 1999-2003
Senior Lecturer & Scientific Coordinator, The Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, 1997-1999
Director of Pharmacology, Schwarz Pharma (Monheim, Germany), 1991-1997
Department Head, Pharmacology, Schwarz Pharma, 1990-1991
Visiting Research Scientist, The Wellcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham, 1989/90
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Pharmacology, Heinrich Heine University (Germany), 1988-1989

Research

Responsibilities

Publications

Honours and Services

Contact

Research interests

Martin has a long-standing interest in analytical chemistry, cardiovascular pharmacology, nutrition and metabolism, photobiology, disease mechanisms, and the chemical biology of nitric oxide (NO), nitroxyl (HNO), and sulfur in its various forms (from hydrogen sulfide, H2S over polysulfides to sulfoxides). More recent research areas include the interconversion of nitrogen and sulfur species and related storage forms in the context of intermediary metabolism, the role of sunlight and the skin microbiome for cardiovascular health as well as mechanisms of adaptation to hypoxia and altitude. His particular interests in the chemical interactions between reactive oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur species (ROS, RNS, RSS) related to mitochondrial function, redox signalling and redox status at the whole body level led to the development of the ‘Reactive Species Interactome’ concept and a conceptual framework now known as the ‘Redox Interactome’.

Work in Martin’s laboratory is both hypothesis- and curiosity-driven and includes basic as well as translational research projects in all of the above areas. Current development efforts in his lab focus on targeted metabolomic approaches (‘redox metabolomics’) to disentangle the mechanisms of redox regulation in health and disease. A particular effort focusses on defining its role in the NIHR Cancer and Nutrition Collaboration paradigm and the use of exercise as a medicine in cancer, metabolic and respiratory diseases.

Research group

Clinical and Experimental Sciences

Affiliate research group

Institute for Life Sciences

Analytical Services

2012-present Nitric oxide/oxidative stress ‘biomarkers’
2015-present Adaptive Redox Metabolomic Phenotyping
2017-present Deputy Analytical Lead, Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research (SCBR)
2018-2020 Interim Director, SCBR Mass Spectrometry Unit for Lipidomic & Metabolomic Analyses

Postgraduate Supervision

Supervision of 6 MMedSc, 1 BMedSc, 2 MD, and 8 PhD students (Germany, USA, UK)
Current supervision of 1 Masters and 3 PhD students.

External Assessor/Examiner/Promotor/Opponent

2002 Neesha Suvarna (University of Tennessee)
2007 Eliza Tsou (University of Buffalo)
2008 Sarah Fox (University of Edinburgh)
2008 Megan Mowbray (University of Edinburgh)
2012 Rasmus Aamand Olesen (Aarhus University)
2014 Johanna van Langen (Antwerp University)
2015 Anne-Roos S Frenay (University of Groningen)
2017 Ammar W Ashor (Newcastle University)
2017 Anne Koning (Groningen University)

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Articles

Book

Feelisch, M., & Stamler, J. (Eds.) (1996). Methods in nitric oxide research. Chichester, GB: Wiley-Blackwell.

Book Chapters

Kevil, C. G., Cortese-Krott, M. M., Nagy, P., Papapetropoulos, A., Feelisch, M., & Szabo, C. (2017). Cooperative interactions between NO and H2S: chemistry, biology, physiology, pathophysiology. In B. Freeman (Ed.), Nitric Oxide (3rd ed., pp. 57-83). Academic Press. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-804273-1.00005-3
Feelisch, M., & Cumpstey, A. F. (2017). Free radicals in inflammation: from molecular and cellular mechanisms to the clinic. In J-M. Cavaillon, & M. Singer (Eds.), Inflammation: From Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms to the Clinic (1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 695-726). Wiley-Blackwell.
Whitlock, D., & Feelisch, M. (2009). Soil bacteria, nitrite and the skin. In G. A. W. Rook (Ed.), The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine (pp. 103-115). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7643-8903-1_6

Conference

Pavitt, M., Lewis, A. P., Buttery, S. C., Fernandez, B. O., Mikus-Lelinska, M., Feelisch, M., ... Hopkinson, N. S. (2018). Late Breaking Abstract - Dietary nitrate supplementation increases exercise endurance time in COPD patients using ambulatory oxygen. European Respiratory Journal, 52(Supplement 52), [PA4049]. DOI: 10.1183/13993003.congress-2018.pa4049

Letters/Editorials

Schmidt, H. H. H. W., & Feelisch, M. (2019). Red blood cell-derived nitric oxide bioactivity and hypoxic vasodilation: To β93 or not to β93? Circulation, 139(23), 2664-2667. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.040423
Feelisch, M. (2018). Enhanced nitric oxide production is a universal response to hypoxic stress. National Science Review, 5(4), 532-533. DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwy041

Reviews

Santolini, J., Wootton, S. A., Jackson, A. A., & Feelisch, M. (2019). The redox architecture of physiological function. Current Opinion in Physiology, 9, 34-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.cophys.2019.04.009
Fukuto, J. M., Ignarro, L. J., Nagy, P., Wink, D. A., Kevil, C. G., Feelisch, M., ... Akaike, T. (2018). Biological hydropersulfides and related polysulfides: A new concept and perspective in redox biology. FEBS Letters, 592(12), 2140-2152. DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.13090
Abdulle, A. E., Diercks, G. F. H., Feelisch, M., Mulder, D. J., & van Goor, H. (2018). The role of oxidative stress in the development of systemic sclerosis related vasculopathy. Frontiers in Physiology, 9(AUG), 1-15. [1177]. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01177

1990 Fritz-Külz-Prize (German Society for Exp & Clin Pharmacology and Toxicology)

Meeting Organisation

1992-present Organization, co-organisation and member of Scientific Advisory Boards of >10 international scientific meetings and workshops (30-650 participants)
2011 Chair Gordon Research Conference on Nitric Oxide

Editorial Board Membership

1993-97 Endothelium
1995-present Nitric Oxide Chemistry and Biology
2005-09 British Journal of Pharmacology
2015-present Pharmacological Research
2019-present Antioxidants

Advisor Activity

1995 Co-Founder and Director of the "Nitric Oxide Society"
1998-02 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Vasopharm Biotech GmbH
2003-07 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, NitroMed, Inc.
2011-present Member, Xtreme Everest Scientific Strategy Group
2014-present Member, Scientific Advisory Board, AOBiome
2016-present Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Clinical Sensors
2016-present Member, Scientific Advisory Board, RelaxSol

Service

1990-present ad hoc reviewer for >20 scientific journals
1999-present Reviewer for national and international grant funding bodies
(incl NIH, Wellcome Trust, MRC, BBSRC, BHF, The Royal Society, SFI, DFG, and FWF)
2009 External Peer Review and Member of Site-Visit Team, Trinity College School of Pharmacy, Dublin, Ireland
2013-present Member, NIHR Wellcome Trust Early Phase Safety Committee
2017 Quality Assessment of Research Programs (Peer Review Committee Chair), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium
2019-present Personal Academic Tutor for several medical students

Professor Martin Feelisch
CES Academic unit
Level F, South Block, MP810
University of Southampton
Southampton General Hospital
Tremona Road
Southampton SO166YD

Room Number: SGH/LF80/MP810

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