Affiliation: University of Manchester

Dr. Gina Galli is a cardiovascular physiologist that is primarily interested in the effects of developmental hypoxia on the cardiovascular system of vertebrates. In 2006 she completed her PhD in comparative physiology at The University of Birmingham and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research associate and fellow at Stanford University and The University of British Columbia. In 2011 she moved back to the UK where she is now an associate professor at the University of Manchester. Her laboratory is particularly interested in the effects of developmental hypoxia on heart cell structure, calcium regulation, and mitochondrial metabolism. They use of a range of techniques to study these properties, including; echocardiography, electrophysiology, confocal and epifluorescent microscopy, high-resolution microrespirometry (Oroboros), electron microscopy, spectrophotometric biochemical assays and epigenetic molecular analysis. These techniques allow them to take an integrative approach to study the effects of developmental hypoxia at numerous levels of biological organization from the whole animal down to the isolated cell, organelle, and gene.  From a medical perspective, they hope to identify the mechanisms that cause cardiac disease in offspring from hypoxic pregnancies and develop therapies to prevent them. From an ecological perspective, they hope that their work on non-mammalian vertebrates will help to predict and mitigate the effects of climate change.