Professor Samira Lakhal-Littleton

Position

Tutorial Fellow in Medicine and Associate Professor of Cell Physiology

Qualifications 

BSc Human Genetics (UCL)

DPhil Molecular Medicine (Oxford)

Academic Positions

Associate Professor of Cell Physiology and Tutorial Fellow, Brasenose College
Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics

Academic Background and Previous Positions

Following completion of a DPhil in Molecular Medicine from the University of Oxford in 2007, Prof. Lakhal-Littleton joined the laboratory of Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe at the University’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. During this time, she focussed her postdoctoral research on the interplay between oxygen and iron homeostasis in health and disease. She also developed a specialist interest in cardiovascular iron homeostasis, and went on to secure an Intermediate Research Fellowship from the British Heart Foundation. Following a period of maternity leave, she took up her Intermediate Fellowship in 2013, setting up her own research lab at the University’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. With her team, she discovered the mechanisms and importance of local iron control in the cardiovascular and renal systems, as well as in the fetal liver. To translate those findings into better understanding and treatment of iron disorders, she went on to secure a Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship in 2020. Other roles include membership of the board of directors of the International Society for the Study of Iron in Biology and Medicine, and of the Royal Society's Grant Review Committee. Prizes include the BioIron's  Gunshin Levy Award, and the Physiological Society's Bayliss Starling Prize Lecture.

Undergraduate Teaching Areas

Medical Sciences 

Research Interests

Translational research- Linking clinical and preclinical approaches to further our understanding of the aetiology -system impact of iron deficiency, and to improve the diagnosis and management of iron disorders.

Publications

• Mayra Vera-Aviles, Syeeda Nashitha Kabir, Akshay Shah, Paolo Polzella, Dillon Yee Lim, Poppy Buckley, Charlotte Ball, Dorine Swinkels, Hanke Matlung, Colin Blans, Philip Holdship, Jeremy Nugent, Edward Anderson, Michael Desborough, Stefan Piechnik, Vanessa Ferreira, Samira Lakhal-Littleton, Intravenous iron therapy results in rapid and sustained rise in myocardial iron content through a novel pathway, European Heart Journal, 2024;, ehae359, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehae359
• Lakhal-Littleton, S., Cleland, J.G.F. Iron deficiency and supplementation in heart failure. Nat Rev Cardiol 21, 463–486 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-00988-1
• Cleland, J. G. F., Pellicori, P., & Lakhal-Littleton, S. (2024). Low Serum Ferritin Might Predict Incident Heart Failure: But Why and Is It Clinically Useful?. JACC. Heart failure, 12(3), 549–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchf.2023.12.012
• Nair, M., Choudhury, S. S., Rani, A., Solomi, C., 5th, Kakoty, S. D., Medhi, R., Rao, S., Mahanta, P., Zahir, F., Roy, I., Chhabra, S., Deka, G., Minz, B., Deka, R., Opondo, C., Churchill, D., Lakhal-Littleton, S., Nemeth, E., & MaatHRI collaboration (2023). The complex relationship between iron status and anemia in pregnant and postpartum women in India: Analysis of two Indian study cohorts of uncomplicated pregnancies. American journal of hematology, 98(11), 1721–1731. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajh.27059
• Loick, P., Mohammad, G. H., Cassimjee, I., Chandrashekar, A., Lapolla, P., Carrington, A., Vera-Aviles, M., Handa, A., Lee, R., & Lakhal-Littleton, S. (2023). Protective Role for Smooth Muscle Cell Hepcidin in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 43(5), 713–725.

Email 

Samira.lakhal-littleton@dpag.ox.ac.uk

Links

https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/research/lakhal-littleton-group