pawel_swietach_CV.pdf
- pawel_swietach_CV.pdf
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Research groups
Colleges
Websites
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IONTRAC
EU consortium
Pawel Swietach
DPhil BA FPhysiol
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology
Molecular Physiology: signalling by small ions
I am fascinated by how a collection of various chemical components in a cell can produce biological life under the constraints of physical laws. This is why I am a physiologist.
Research in my lab is driven by an interest in how biological processes are affected by chemical acidity. All tissues are exquisitely sensitive to changes in acidity (often expressed on a pH scale), therefore the remit of our research is broad. However, our two main pillars relate to the heart and to cancer. Acidity has a powerful effect on cardiac biology and is particularly important in cardiac diseases. In tumours, acidity is a chemical signature that influences disease progression. By discovering the mechanisms of these pH-responses, we hope to deliver new insights that may lead to better diagnosis, management and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Most of our work is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
I joined the Department in 2001 as a PhD student working on spatial pH control in the heart in Richard Vaughan-Jones’ lab. Between 2004 and 2008, my research work, split between DPAG and Ken Spitzer’s lab at the University of Utah, focused on how changes in pH influence calcium signalling, a key driver of cardiac physiology. In 2008, I was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) to study spatio-temporal aspects of pH control in cancer, and how acidic pH affects cancer cell behaviour and disease progression. I received mentorship from Adrian Harris. In 2017, I was awarded an ERC Consolidator Award to expand my research in the area of acid-selection in colorectal cancer. In that year, I also began leading a BHF Programme on the role of acidity in hypertrophic cardiac growth, which often precedes heart failure.
Key publications
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Stromal uptake and transmission of acid is a pathway for venting cancer cell-generated acid
Journal article
Hulikova A. et al, (2016), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
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Journal article
Schroeder MA. et al, (2013), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 110, E958 - E967
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Journal article
Swietach P. et al, (2013), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Journal article
Swietach P. et al, (2010), Oncogene
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Intracellular tortuosity underlies slow cAMP diffusion in adult ventricular myocytes
Journal article
Swietach P. et al, (2016), Cardiovascular Research
Recent publications
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Nitric oxide modulates cardiomyocyte pH control through a biphasic effect on sodium/hydrogen exchanger-1
Journal article
SWIETACH P. et al, (2019), Cardiovascular Research
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Conference paper
Estrella V. et al, (2019), CANCER RESEARCH, 79
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Journal article
Loonat AA. et al, (2019), J Mol Cell Cardiol, 130, 184 - 196
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Journal article
Şimşek G. et al, (2019), J Cell Physiol, 234, 4681 - 4694
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Evidence-based guidelines for controlling pH in mammalian live-cell culture systems
Journal article
MICHL J. et al, (2019), Communications Biology