Dr Ian Copple BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA

My research group focuses on understanding mechanisms that underlie cellular stress (especially Nrf2) responses in the context of drug toxicity and disease, and exploiting this knowledge to improve our ability to treat patients in a number of settings. We have a particular interest in liver disease and drug-induced liver injury, but are open to collaboration in other areas.


Click here to see all of our publications in PubMed.


Some of our previous achievements in the areas of Nrf2 pharmacology and toxicology include:

# Demonstrating that pharmacological activation of Nrf2 can enhance liver regeneration following surgery - PubMed

# Revealing the transcriptional landscape of the Nrf2 pathway in primary human hepatocytes - PubMed

# Detailing the regulatory roles of Nrf2 in the kidney, in which Nrf2 inducers have recently emerged as novel therapeutic agents - PubMed

# Identifying a novel interaction between Keap1 and the multi-functional protein p62/SQSTM1, which regulates the degradation of Keap1 and activity of Nrf2 - PubMed

# Defining the chemical modification of Keap1 by Nrf2-activating compounds in living cells, a key aspect of the 'stress sensing' capacity of the Nrf2 pathway - PubMed


Examples of our current research include:

# Understanding the benefits and risks of modulating Nrf2 activity in different disease contexts.

# Determining the value of monitoring perturbation of the Nrf2 pathway for the prediction of drug toxicity earlier in the drug development process.

# Using novel pharmacological tools to modulate the activity of Nrf2 and other transcription factors/proteins, as part of investigations into new ways of treating disease.


Current group members:
Rowena Sison-Young (Post-doc)
Giusy Russomanno (Post-doc)
Georgina Gregory (PhD student)
Hannah Coghlan (PhD student)
Rob Young (PhD student)


Previous group members:
Shiva Forootan (Post-doc)
Lawrence Howell (Post-doc)
Charles Winiarski (Post-doc)
Adedamola Olayanju (Post-doc)
Victoria Watson (Post-doc)
Ben Chan (PhD student)
Tobias Bunday (PhD student)
Lucia Livoti (PhD student)
Adeeb Rehman (PhD student)
Fiona Mutter (PhD student)
Luke Shelton (PhD student)
Jason Yau (MRes student)
Sean Duffy (MRes student)
Jessica Clarke (MRes student)
Pak Him Chiu (MRes student)
Olivia Matthews (BPS summer student)

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