Professor Thomas Krieg

College positions: College Lecturer in Medicine

University position: Clinical Professor for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine

Subject: Pharmacology

Professor Thomas Krieg is a College Lecturer in Medicine at Magdalene.

After medical school at the University in Freiburg, Germany, he started medical training in General Medicine and Cardiology in Germany (Fulda, Ludwigshafen, and Greifswald). His postdoctoral training he did at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, US. In 2006, he became consultant physician in cardiology at the University of Greifswald and in 2005 he became "Privatdozent" after his post doctoral habilitation degree.

In 2009, he started at the University of Cambridge and continued his research in close collaboration with Professor Mike Murphy at the Mitochondrial Biology Unit. Together, they published ground breaking articles about mitochondrial regulation during heart attack and stroke and how interfering with mitochondrial Redox system and metabolism is able to protect against these devastating diseases.

In 2014, they published a landmark study in Nature and based on these findings, they recently founded a Cambridge supported start up company for the clinical development of one of their drugs.

He has keen interest in teaching and will be Director of Studies in Medicine Part Ib at Magdalene. Furthermore, he directs the Therapeutics course for Year 4 to 6 at the Clinical School.

His clinical work in Cambridge is within Acute Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology where he covers A&E, acute medical wards, and a hypertension clinic. Further, he is Consultant in the Acute Admissions Unit at the Cleveland Clinic in London.

For the next two years, he will be Chairperson of the Working Group on Cellular Biology of the Heart of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The Working Groups are an integral part of the governing body of the ESC and its educational and scientific remit.

Research Interest

My main research interest is in the development of drugs which are able to protect the mitochondria against ischaemic damage which occurs during a heart attack or stroke. These drugs interfere with the electron transport chain and the metabolic signature of ischaemia and the following restoration of blood flow. The blood flow is routinely restored in patients using either angioplasty in the heart or thrombectomy in the brain. By adding the drugs I developed together with my close collaborator Professor Mike Murphy, the resulting damage to the mitochondria is reduced and, ultimately, brain or heart tissue survives the damaging event.

Qualifications

  • GMC Specialist register for General Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology
  • MA, University of Cambridge
  • MD, University of Freiburg
  • PhD, University of Greifswald

Professional Affiliations

  • Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Local arterial administration of acidified malonate as an adjunct therapy to mechanical thrombectomy in ischemic stroke. Lee JJ, Prag HA, Chary K, Abe J, Uno S, Sorby-Adams A, Yu CS, Sauchanka O, Mottahedin A, Kaggie JD, Gallagher FA, Murphy MP, Krieg T. Cardiovascular Research 121(9), pp. 1407–1418.

Ischemia selective protection against cardiac ischemia reperfusion injury by malonate. Prag HA, Aksentljevic D, Dannhorn A, Giles AV, Mulvey JF, Sauchanka O, Du L, Bates G, Reinhold J, Kula-Alwar D, Xu Z, Pellerin L, Goodwin RJA, Murphy MP, Krieg T. Circulation Research 131 (2022), pp. 528–541.

Targeting succinate metabolism in ischemia reperfusion injury. Kula-Alwar D, Prag HA, Krieg T. Circulation 140(24) (2019), pp. 1968–1970.

Ischaemic accumulation of succinate controls reperfusion injury through mitochondrial ROS. Chouchani ET, Pell VR, Gaude E, Aksentijević D, Sundier SY, Robb EL, Logan A, Nadtochiy SM, Ord ENJ, Smith AC, Eyassu F, Shirley R, Hu C H, Dare AJ, James AM, Rogatti S, Hartley RC, Eaton S, Costa ASH, Brookes PS, Davidson SM, Duchen MR, Saeb-Parsy K, Shattock MJ, Robinson AJ, Work LM, Frezza C, Krieg T, Murphy MP. Nature 515 (2014), pp. 431–435.

Email
tk382@cam.ac.uk