Inaugural Professorial Lecture - Professor Fiona McDonald

Fiona’s research focuses on the control of blood pressure by the kidney. In particular, her work on the epithelial sodium channel has shown how cellular trafficking, recycling and degradation pathways converge to maintain an appropriate population of sodium channels at the cell membrane, to ensure blood pressure stays in a healthy range.

She has also contributed to work uncovering how mutations in sodium channel genes cause a rare inherited form of high blood pressure called Liddle’s syndrome. Along with collaborators in pathology and physiology, she is currently studying how changes in sodium channel activity affect breast cancer cell proliferation and migration, with a view to understanding if changing sodium channel activity or amount can inform treatment. Fiona has mentored more than 40 postgraduate students in her laboratory, and she is currently Head of the Department of Physiology.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee and juice.