Flinders has secured acclaimed pioneer in understanding how human cells sense and adapt to available oxygen, Oxford University’s Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe FRS, to present the 2018 John Chalmers Oration.
Professor Ratcliffe has won many prestigious science and medical awards and earned a knighthood for his services to medicine, including his valuable discoveries in the field of hypoxia – where he solved a critical biological conundrum applicable to multiple areas of medicine and heralded a myriad of new drugs, treatments and further research.
Initially trained as a nephrologist, Professor Ratcliffe founded the Oxford Hypoxia Biology Laboratory where he studied the regulation of erythropoietin by the kidney and demonstrated the existence of a widespread system of oxygen sensing in animal cells, also unravelling the mechanism by which oxygen levels are signaled.
The laboratory is currently researching the biochemical and physiological representation of these and related oxygenases, and exploring their therapeutic potential in treating human disease.
Flinders has a proud connection to Professor Ratcliffe, who was supervisor of fellow nephrologist and Professor of Medicine, Professor Jonathan Gleadle, who is also investigating molecular and cellular responses to oxygen among his research pursuits.
The John Chalmers Oration commemorates the work of John Chalmers AC, who was the first professor of medicine at Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre, serving from 1975 – 1996.
Event details
Where: Lecture Theatre 1.01, Health Sciences Lecture Theatre Complex, Bedford Park campus
When: Thursday 6 September 2018; 12:30 – 1:30pm