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Biography

Pawel Swietach is Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow (Handa Tutorial Fellow) of Corpus Christi College. He leads the Proton Transport Group in Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. Pawel read Physiological Sciences at Oxford, winning the Physiological Society Prize in 2001, then completed a DPhil in Physiology in 2004 on spatial control of pH in the heart. Post‑doctoral work with Richard Vaughan‑Jones (Oxford) and Kenneth Spitzer (Utah) explored how pH shapes cardiac calcium signalling. In 2008 he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to extend his work into cancer pH biology with mentorship from Adrian Harris, and in 2017 he secured a European Research Council Consolidator Grant on acid‑selection in colorectal cancer while launching a British Heart Foundation programme on acidity in hypertrophic growth. He became Professor in 2020 and was elected to Academia Europaea in 2024. Swietach is a Fellow of The Physiological Society and serves the community through collaborative, cross‑disciplinary projects that link chemistry to medicine. His group blends quantitative modelling with imaging and mechanistic experiments, aiming to turn pH biology into better diagnostics and treatments in cardiology, oncology and haematology

Research groups

Pawel Swietach

DPhil FTPS MAE


Professor of Physiology

Connecting molecular with systems physiology

PHD OPPORTUNITIES

FULLY FUNDED OPPORTUNITY IN MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS (DPAG AND ICASE)

Pawel Swietach studies how the chemical microenvironment—especially pH, oxygen and core metabolites—governs cell function across the heart, cancers and blood. His group integrates imaging, physiology, quantitative modelling and bespoke assays to connect discovery with translation.

Cardiac physiology and metabolism. The Group has studied how localized proton signals shape cardiac function by coupling to calcium handling and energetics. Landmark studies revealed coupled Ca²⁺/H⁺ transport on mobile cytoplasmic buffers, providing a mechanism for acid–calcium crosstalk in myocytes, and identified a carbonic-anhydrase–rich extramitochondrial domain that improves CO₂ venting, preserves matrix pH and supports myocardial energetics. More recently, the lab linked propionate metabolism to epigenetic remodeling in the heart—histone propionylation/acetylation with transcriptional and functional consequences—highlighting how metabolites program cardiac performance. Key diseases of focus are inherited disorders, notably propionic acidemia, and conditions including diabetes, ischaemia, and maladaptive hypertrophy.

Cancer pH biology. The Group has made major contributions in defining acidity as a driver of tumour progression and selection. Recent milestones uncovered stromal mechanisms that vent tumour-generated acid through anion exchangers and gap-junctional networks—relieving the energetic burden on cancer cells and shaping invasion niches, as well as adaptive mechanisms that enable cells to acquire an acid-resistant phenotype and thrive in otherwise harsh conditions. Ongoing efforts are focusing on how to exploit acidic microenvironments as therapeutic and diagnostic opportunities.

Blood and oxygen transport. An highly translational programme quantifies how red cells pick up and release oxygen. Single-cell O₂-exchange imaging established that cytoplasmic diffusion—restricted by haemoglobin and pathlength—is an important barrier to gas transport. Building on this biophysics, the lab developed FlowScore, a flow-cytometric proxy of O₂-unloading kinetics intended to grade the functional quality of stored blood. These tools aim to match donors to patients more effectively and to inform storage strategies. Key beneficiaries of our research include blood banks, and transfusion and transplant medicine.

We are grateful to past and current funders who enabled our work, including the European Research Council, the Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Research UK, Bowel Research UK, the Propionic Acidemia Foundation, and Organic Acidemia Foundation.