Professor Ian Copple BSc (Hons), PhD, FBPhS, 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.


Check out all of my group's publications on PubMed and Google Scholar. Follow us on X/Twitter.


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 p62/SQSTM1, which regulates the degradation of Keap1 and activity of Nrf2 - PubMed
# Defining the chemical modification of sensor cysteine residues in Keap1 by Nrf2-activating compounds in living cells - PubMed


Examples of our current research include:

# Understanding the benefits and risks of modulating Nrf2 activity in different disease contexts.
# Establishing robust means of monitoring Nrf2 activity and its therapeutic modulation in patients.
# Determining the role of Nrf2 in drug toxicity and its value as a risk marker in the drug development process.

Current group members (L-R):

# Giusy Russomanno (Post-doc)
# Hannah Coghlan (PhD student)
# Rob Young (PhD student)
# Olivia Harris (PhD student)
# Rowena Sison-Young (Post-doc/HLRF manager)
# Georgina Gregory (Post-doc)


In addition, since 2013 I have been primary supervisor for:

# 5 post-docs
# 7 PhD students
# 5 MRes students
# 1 MSc student
# +20 BSc research project students


Example destinations of previous group members:

# Tobias Bunday (PhD student) -> Translational Scientist, Sygnature Discovery
# Olivia Matthews (BPS undegraduate summer student) -> PhD student, University of Ediniburgh
# Fiona Mutter (PhD student) -> Post-doc, University of Greifswald, Germany
# Adedamola Olayanju (Post-doc) -> Senior Scientist, Manchester BIOGEL
# Luke Shelton (PhD student) -> Post-doc, Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands
# Charles Winiarski (Post-doc) -> Business Development Manager, Manchester Inward Investment Agency