Akhilesh Reddy

Akhilesh Reddy is a British physician-scientist. He studied on the MB/PhD programme at the University of Cambridge and did a PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.[1] He was a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Clinical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He is currently an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania.[2]

Akhilesh Reddy
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
Chronobiology
Genetics
Pharmacology
InstitutionsFrancis Crick Institute

Research

Reddy's research group discovered the existence of circadian clocks in human red blood cells (erythrocytes) in 2011.[3] This was a seminal finding for the field because before this study it was not thought that mammals could have a circadian clock without DNA, RNA production, or protein production. Thus, the red cell oscillations might be considered a type of biochemical or chemical oscillation, over a long (24 hour) time scale.[4] Sir Christopher Dobson lauded the findings, and commented that this was akin to well established short period oscillations that occur in chemical systems.[4] Other researchers in the circadian rhythms field called the work "exceptional" in post-publication peer review on Faculty of 1000.[5][6][7][8]

In collaboration with Andrew Millar's group in Edinburgh, Reddy's group also showed the existence of 24-hour oscillations that do not require RNA production in marine algae.[9] This was also a major finding in the field, and was admired by multiple experts in the clocks field. Therefore, his group discovered circadian rhythms without the formation of new RNA in higher organisms for the first time.

In 2012, Reddy's group showed that redox circadian oscillations are pervasive across evolutionary time, from bacteria to humans, using a new molecular window into the clock – peroxiredoxin proteins.[10] Nobel laureate Michael Rosbash stated that "A more recent challenge to the PER-CLK transcription-centric animal model is the proposed role of metabolism and specifically peroxiredoxin hyperoxidation in circadian rhythms. A set of crucial experiments shows that these rhythms are independent of transcriptional rhythms in human red blood cells as well as in fly and mouse systems (O'Neill and Reddy 2011; O'Neill et al. 2011; Edgar et al. 2012). Importantly, key aspects of the red blood cell experiments were independently replicated (Cho et al. 2014). As mammalian red blood cells lack nuclei and therefore transcription, aspects of this very important hypothesis are likely to be correct."[11]

In 2018, Reddy's team has shown the intimate links between core glucose metabolism and circadian transcriptional oscillations, as well as non-canonical circadian rhythms in clock-less fruit fly cells.[12] These are, again, seen as landmark findings in the field, and substantiate the notion that we still do not have a complete understanding of molecular circadian rhythms in a range of organisms as yet.[13]

Controversy

In December 2019, Reddy was suspended from medical practice for nine months by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal after receiving full-time salaries from two universities.[14] University College London became aware in December 2016 that Reddy was receiving two salaries, and contacted the University of Cambridge. During their investigation, Reddy claimed that he noticed the salary issue in February 2016, five months after starting at UCL. He claimed that he thought the extra money was a salary "overlap", but also stated that he believed that the two universities were "sharing his salary". However, he also used £50,000 of the overpayment in order to make a mortgage payment, which the Medical Practitioners Tribunal cited as evidence that his statements were inconsistent, and that he was "financially aware" of the situation. The MPT investigated the case and suspended him for misconduct. According to the tribunal, he has since shown remorse and repaid the money. He remains suspended from practising medicine in the United Kingdom.

Awards
  • 2011: EMBO Young Investigator Award.[15]
  • 2012: Lister Prize.[16]
  • 2012: Colworth Medal.[17][18][19]
  • 2013: Academy of Medical Sciences Foulkes Foundation Medal.[20][21]
  • 2014: Elected to American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).[15]
  • 2014: FEBS Anniversary Prize.[22]
  • 2015: Linacre Medal and Lecture (Royal College of Physicians).[23]
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References
  1. "Dr Akhilesh Reddy Bio at the Lister Institute". Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. "Akhilesh B. Reddy, MA MB BChir PhD FRCP". Perelman School of Medicine. University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  3. O'Neill, John S.; Reddy, Akhilesh B. (26 January 2011). "Circadian clocks in human red blood cells". Nature. 469 (7331): 498–503. doi:10.1038/nature09702. PMC 3040566. PMID 21270888.
  4. Dobson, Christopher M. (2014). "Dynamics and Timekeeping in Biological Systems". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 83 (1): 159–164. doi:10.1146/annurev-biochem-013014-102724. PMID 24606145.
  5. Mistlberger, Ralph (3 February 2011). "Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Circadian clocks in human red blood cells": 8488054. doi:10.3410/f.8095959.8488054. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Rodgers, Ray (3 February 2011). "Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Circadian clocks in human red blood cells": 8487057. doi:10.3410/f.8095959.8487057. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Nitabach, Michael (28 February 2011). "Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Circadian clocks in human red blood cells": 9095057. doi:10.3410/f.8095959.9095057. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. Hastings, Michael (14 March 2011). "Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Circadian clocks in human red blood cells": 9415054. doi:10.3410/f.8095959.9415054. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. O'Neill, John S.; van Ooijen, Gerben; Dixon, Laura E.; Troein, Carl; Corellou, Florence; Bouget, François-Yves; Reddy, Akhilesh B.; Millar, Andrew J. (26 January 2011). "Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote". Nature. 469 (7331): 554–558. doi:10.1038/nature09654. PMC 3040569. PMID 21270895.
  10. Rachel S. Edgar; Edward W Green; Yuwei Zhao; Gerben van Ooijen; Maria Olmedo; Ximing Qin; Yao Xu; Min Pan; Utham K. Valekunja; Kevin A. Feeney; Elizabeth S. Maywood; Michael H. Hastings; Nitin S. Baliga; Martha Merrow; Andrew J. Millar; Carl H. Johnson; Charalambos P. Kyriacou; John S. O'Neill; Akhilesh B. Reddy (16 May 2012). "Peroxiredoxins are conserved markers of circadian rhythms". Nature. 485 (7399): 459–464. doi:10.1038/nature11088. PMC 3398137. PMID 22622569.
  11. Rosbash, Michael (9 June 2017). "A 50-Year Personal Journey: Location, Gene Expression, and Circadian Rhythms". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. 9: a032516. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a032516. ISSN 1943-0264. PMC 5710103. PMID 28600396.
  12. Rey, Guillaume; Milev, Nikolay B; Valekunja, Utham K; Ch, Ratnasekhar; Ray, Sandipan; Silva Dos Santos, Mariana; Nagy, Andras D; Antrobus, Robin; MacRae, James I; Reddy, Akhilesh B (1 August 2018). "Metabolic oscillations on the circadian time scale in Drosophila cells lacking clock genes". Molecular Systems Biology. 14 (8): e8376. doi:10.15252/msb.20188376. ISSN 1744-4292. PMC 6078164. PMID 30072421.
  13. Ode, Koji L; Ueda, Hiroki R (24 September 2018). "Lost in clocks: non‐canonical circadian oscillation discovered in Drosophila cells". Molecular Systems Biology. 14 (9). doi:10.15252/msb.20188567. ISSN 1744-4292. PMC 6151625. PMID 30249605.
  14. "Cambridge and UCL professor 'did not notice' double salaries". BBC News. 31 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. "ASCI - The American Society for Clinical Investigation". the-asci.org. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  16. "2012 Lister Prize for Ak Reddy". Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science. 10 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  17. Looi, Mun-Keat. "Colworth Medal for Trust Fellow". Wellcome Trust Blog. Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  18. "Dr Akhilesh Reddy awarded Colworth Medal". St John. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  19. "The Colworth Medal". www.biochemistry.org. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  20. "Foulkes Foundation Medal " The Foulkes Foundation". foulkes-foundation.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  21. "Foulkes Foundation Medal | Academy of Medical Sciences". www.acmedsci.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  22. "FEBS Anniversary Prize der GBM – Homepage der Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie e.V." gbm-online.de (in German). Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  23. "Biography | The Francis Crick Institute". The Francis Crick Institute. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
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