About
I strive to understand what keeps us well, specifically by which mechanisms Whole-Body Redox Balance contributes to Health and Disease. We are particularly interested to understand what contributes to Resilience by redox phenotyping individuals in health and disease, and develop methods & interventions to diagnose and manage Oxidosis and Redosis along the spectrum of clinical care.
Martin is a licensed Pharmacist, Pharmacologist, Systems Biologist and Analytical Chemist with a particular expertise in cardiovascular physiology, adaptation to hypoxia and other stressors as well as the chemical biology of NO/HNO and sulfur in its various forms (incl persulfides and polysulfides). His interests in the chemical interactions between reactive oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur species in the context of mitochondrial function, redox signalling and whole-body electron balance led to the development of conceptual frameworks known as the ‘Reactive Species Interactome’ and the ‘Redox Interactome’.
Martin is affiliated with the School of Clinical and Experimental Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, the Perioperative and Critical Care group at the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and the Institute for Life Sciences on main campus. He is also the Deputy Direcctor of the SCBR Mass Spectrometry Unit at the Southampton General Hospital.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Role of Nutrition and Exercise in Health & Resilience
- Origin-of-Life Chemistry and Evolution
- Stress Signaling & Redox Regulation
- Mitochondrial Function and Disease Mechanisms
- Role of Sunlight and Gut/Oral/Skin microbiome for CV Health
Current research
Work in Martin’s lab is both hypothesis- and curiosity-driven and includes basic as well as translational research projects. Current efforts focus on personalised ‘redox phenotyping’ to characterise human resilience in health and disease, including studies in individuals exposed to combined hypoxic and psychosocial stress overwintering at Concordia Research Station in Antarctica, the most remote research station on Earth also used as space analogue ('White Mars').
"In biology, a finite number of regulatory modules and organising principles suffice to support life and are used by microbes, plants and mammals alike. I aim to understand how production and availability of the various forms of nitrogen and sulfur species are regulated in the face of rapidly changing metabolic demands, nutrient and oxygen supply, physical activity level and interaction with the environment; above all, I wish to unravel how this is orchestrated at the cellular, organ and whole body level."
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Biography
Following a vocational training as Pharmacy Technician in Solingen and the subsequent study of Pharmacy at university level, Martin Feelisch earned his PhD in Pharmacology from Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany. This was followed by a Habilitation (postdoctoral research and teaching qualification) in both Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Cologne. He was appointed to the Personal Chair of Experimental Medicine & Integrative Biology at the University of Southampton in 2012, following a series of senior research positions in industry and academia in the US and Europe.
Academic 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
Career History
- Professor of Experimental Medicine & Integrative Biology, University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine, 2012-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