Dr Dan Peet

Associate Professor Dan Peet's research interests are centred on understanding the molecular events within cells that underpin the genomic response to hypoxia. The cellular response to hypoxia is essential for many physiological processes in normal development and adult physiology, and contributes to the pathophysiology of major human diseases, including cancer, myocardial and cerebral ischaemia, pulmonary hypertension, and wound healing. The key components of this cellular response to hypoxia are a unique family of hydroxylase enzymes that act as the primary oxygen sensors, the Hypoxic Inducible transcription Factors (HIFs) that directly regulate gene expression, and specific target genes that mediate cellular changes. His research interests extend beyond the HIFs, to the identification and characterisation of novel substrates of the oxygen-sensing hydroxylases. Understanding these processes has major implications for the diagnosis, prognosis and novel therapeutic approaches to treat human disease.

A more recent focus is on cellular metabolism, specifically the unusual metabolism displayed by proliferating cells, especially cancer cells, that mimic quiescent cells in hypoxia. Of particular interest are the photoreceptor cells in the retina, which also display cancer-like metabolism. A key aim is to determine what controls this unusual metabolism, and whether it is a similar mechanism of control to cancer cells, with important implications for retinal disease.