Dr Andrew Murray - Oxygen Utilisation (MR Spectroscopy)

Dr Andrew Murray is the Research Council's UK Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, University of Cambridge and a Fellow in Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Andrew grew up and was schooled in South Wales, before reading for a biochemistry degree at Christ Church, Oxford. In 2004, Andrew was awarded a D.Phil. for his thesis on the genetic control of cardiac metabolism in heart failure; work supported by the British Heart Foundation. His work on mitochondrial oxygen efficiency has subsequently been published in a number of papers, including highly-cited articles in The Lancet and Diabetes.

Andrew's current research is concerned with mitochondrial adaptation to extreme physiological states, and in 2005 he joined the Caudwell Xtreme Everest research team to study mitochondrial function in high altitude hypoxia. As part of the 2007 Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition, Andrew's team made the first measurement of cardiac and skeletal muscle energetics in climbers returning from the highest point on Earth, and thereby identified novel cellular mechanisms that may underlie the body's adaptation to chronically low atmospheric oxygen levels.

In his spare time, Andrew enjoys trekking, travelling the world and writing.