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Dr Pedro Beltran-Alvarez

Dr Pedro Beltran-Alvarez

Senior Lecturer in Health and Climate Change and Programme co-Director of the MSc Health and Climate Change

+44 (0)1482 466624 | P.Beltran-Alvarez@hull.ac.uk

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Hull York Medical School

Related groups

  • Centre for Biomedicine

Qualifications

  • PhD (University of Bristol)

Summary

After his integrated MSc Chemical Engineering (environmental specialism), Pedro did his PhD at the University of Bristol (2004-2007) funded by a Marie Curie grant from the EU. After a short stage in the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Heidelberg, 2007-2009), he joined the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University of Girona (2009), where he gained a Sara Borrell Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Spanish Government (2011-2014). Pedro then joined the University of Hull in 2015 as a Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2022.

Some of the research that we do is in youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JtVvdFJsnc

Pedro is the Programme co-Director of the MSc Health and Climate Change, where he leads on several modules. The MSc Health and Climate Change is a course for current or future health leaders who realise that climate change is the greatest threat to human health of the 21st century (WHO). The University of Hull has an international reputation for research focused on the environment and on human health. The University is within the world's top 100 in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings (2022) and 82% of our research is recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent (REF 2021).

We have been classified as a 1st Class University (24 our of 153) in the People and Planet 2022/23 University League, which ranks UK universities against sustainability and ethics criteria – our two key themes in Strategy 2030.

Pedro also coordinates Biomedical Science modules on Clinical Biochemistry (Level 6) and additionally teaches on a variety of modules including Biochemistry (L4), Biological Basis of Disease (L5), Muscle Fitness and Failure (L6), and Current Topics in Biomedicine (L7).

Pedro additionally contributes to teaching of UG and PG students in modules including Skills for Biomedical Scientists and supervises UG and PG students during their final research projects.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

The Epigenetic Regulatory Protein CBX2 Promotes mTORC1 Signalling and Inhibits DREAM Complex Activity to Drive Breast Cancer Cell Growth

Bilton, L. J., Warren, C., Humphries, R. M., Kalsi, S., Waters, E., Francis, T., …Wade, M. A. (2022). The Epigenetic Regulatory Protein CBX2 Promotes mTORC1 Signalling and Inhibits DREAM Complex Activity to Drive Breast Cancer Cell Growth. Cancers, 14(14), Article 3491. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143491

Mark Wade

Functional genomics of abiotic environmental adaptation in lacertid lizards and other vertebrates

Wollenberg Valero, K. C., Garcia-Porta, J., Irisarri, I., Feugere, L., Bates, A., Kirchhof, S., …Storey, K. B. (in press). Functional genomics of abiotic environmental adaptation in lacertid lizards and other vertebrates. The journal of animal ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13617

Thermal stress induces a positive phenotypic and molecular feedback loop in zebrafish embryos

Feugere, L., Wollenberg Valero, K. C., Scott, V., Rodriguez-Barucg, Q., & Beltran-Alvarez, P. (2021). Thermal stress induces a positive phenotypic and molecular feedback loop in zebrafish embryos. Journal of Thermal Biology, 102, Article 103114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103114

Inhibition of arginine methylation impairs platelet function

Marsden, A. J., Riley, D. R. J., Barry, A., Khalil, J. S., Guinn, B. A., Kemp, N. T., …Beltran-Alvarez, P. (in press). Inhibition of arginine methylation impairs platelet function. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.1c00135

Francisco Rivero Crespo Barbara Guinn

Love is in the hair: arginine methylation of human hair proteins as novel cardiovascular biomarkers

Marsden, A. J., Riley, D. R., Birkett, S., Rodriguez-Barucg, Q., Guinn, B. A., Carroll, S., …Beltran-Alvarez, P. (in press). Love is in the hair: arginine methylation of human hair proteins as novel cardiovascular biomarkers. Amino acids, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-021-03024-5

Thozhukat Sathyapalan Sean Carroll Lee Ingle Barbara Guinn

Research interests

Research Mission: to investigate the relevance of protein post-translational modifications in the biological response to environmental changes, with a focus on human health.

Recent and current externally funded projects:

1. Role of arginine methylation of cardiac troponin I in cardiovascular disease, funded by The Hull and East Riding Cardiac Trust (HERCTF), £29,875. January-December 2019. Link to HERCTF: https://sites.google.com/view/hull-east-riding-cardiac-trust

2. Developing tissue-on-chip technology as a platform to measure the response of glioblastoma to established therapy and novel drugs (GBM-on-chip), funded by the Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity (YBTC), £79,987.75, 2020-2023. Link to YBTC: www.btrs.org.uk

3. Measuring novel biomarkers of tumours, Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity, £18,000, 2021-2023.

4. Investigating novel cardiovascular biomarkers in the hair of cardiac patients, Hull and East Riding Cardiac Trust Fund, £19,430, 2022-2023.

Internally funded projects:

the Happy Chemical Cluster!

https://happychemical.wordpress.hull.ac.uk/

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

NERC Discipline Hopping: Fish on chips: developing a new microfluidics model as a tool for testing and mitigating the effects of environmental and biological contaminants on fish

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£13,582.00

Started

1 December 2022

Status

Ongoing

Project

Which is the role of arginine methylation of cardiac troponin I in cardiovascular disease?

Funder

Hull & East Riding Cardiac Trust Fund

Grant

£29,875.00

Started

1 January 2019

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Pedro proudly supervises students interested in biochemistry and post-translational modifications, in a variety of systems from cardiovascular to environmental models.

Current PG students include:

- Alistair Marsden (3rd year PhD student), who is interested in cardiovascular disease

- Lauric Feugere (3rd year PhD student, second supervisor), who is interested in stress signalling in fish in the context of climate change

- Antonia Barry (1st year PhD student), who is interested in brain disease

-Quentin Rodriguez (1st year PhD student), who is interested in the effect of environmental pollution

-Ed Gilbert (1st year PhD student), who is interested in genetic and biochemical markers of adaptation to environmental change

Past supervision: Dr Donatus Onwuli (graduated 2018), Dr Sabrina Samuel (graduated 2021)

Awards and prizes

Fellow of HEA

2016

Consultancy/Industry advisory role

Member of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission

2021

Honorary position

Honorary Consultant Endocrinologist, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

2019

Journal editorial role

Editor, Amino Acids (Springer)

2015

2015-2018: Editor (Proteomics) 2021-2024: Editor (Environmental Science)

Other

External PhD thesis examiner

2018

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