Dr Andrew P Holmes BMedsc PhD

Dr Andrew P Holmes

School of Biomedical Sciences
Lecturer in Cardiac and Respiratory Physiology
Next Generation Biotechnology Theme Lead

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8161
Email
a.p.holmes@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Clinical Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Andrew Holmes is a Lecturer in Cardiac and Respiratory Physiology in the Institute of Clinical Sciences.

His research interests are in the field of cardiovascular and respiratory physiology and pathology, with an emphasis on identifying novel mechanisms underlying hypertension and cardiac arrhythmia.

Dr Holmes has a key research focus on evaluating how cardiorespiratory reflex dysfunction caused by hyperactive carotid body chemoreceptors promotes hypertension and cardiac autonomic dysfunction. He aims to develop new or repurposed therapies that directly target the carotid body to reduce hypertension and arrhythmia in associated diseases such as obstructive sleep apnoea and COPD. This work is currently supported by the Wellcome Trust.

In addition, he has a specific interest in understanding how acute and chronic hypoxia disrupt the electrical integrity of atrial tissue leading to heart rhythm disturbances. This work is currently supported by grants from BHF.  

Dr Holmes is an enthusiastic teacher and contributes to the delivery of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. He is joint module lead on the Biomedical Science BSc Year 3 module- Hypoxia in Health and Disease.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Medical Science, University of Birmingham, 2013
  • BMedSc (Hons), Class I, University of Birmingham, 2009

Teaching

Dr Holmes is an enthusiastic teacher and understands the importance of delivering high quality research led and research informed content to undergraduate students.

Undergraduate teaching:

  • Biomedical Science BSc
    • Joint Module Lead on Hypoxia in Health and Disease (2018 - present)
    •  Cardiorespiratory 1 and 2 (2013-present)
    • Digestion and Renal Sciences (2018-present)
    • Cellular Biochemistry and Biology (2018-present)
  • Medicine and Surgery MBChB 
    • Introduction to Respiratory Medicine (2018- present)
    • Cardiovascular Sciences (2018- present)
    • Digestion (2018- present)
  • Dental Surgery BDS
    • Cardiovascular Pharmacology (2018- present)

Small group laboratory practical sessions:

  • Biomedical Science BSc
    • Studying the alterations in electrical properties of atrial cardiomyocytes induced by hypoxia and re-oxygenation (2014- present).

Dr Holmes also currently supervises undergraduates working on their final year research projects.

Other activities

  • Member of the Physiological Society
  • Member of the European Society of Cardiology
  • Dr Holmes is a tutor on the Access to Birmingham (A2B) Scheme that aims to encourage under-privileged students to consider and prepare for admission into a medical/scientific degree course.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Holmes, AP & Kumar, P 2023, 'Low sugar and the drive to breathe: Is insulin another adequate stimulus for the carotid body?', Experimental Physiology, vol. 108, no. 2, pp. 167-168. https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091008

Cumberland, M, Riebel, LL, Roy, A, O'Shea, C, Holmes, A, Denning, C, Kirchhof, P, Rodriguez, B & Gehmlich, K 2022, 'Basic Research Approaches to Evaluate Cardiac Arrhythmia in Heart Failure and Beyond', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 13, 806366. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.806366

Al-Maswary, AA, O'Reilly, M, Holmes, AP, Walmsley, AD, Cooper, PR & Scheven, BA 2022, 'Exploring the neurogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells', PLoS ONE, vol. 17, no. 11, e0277134. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277134

O'Reilly, M, Sommerfeld, LC, O'Shea, C, Broadway-Stringer, S, Andaleeb, S, Reyat, JS, Kabir, SN, Stastny, D, Malinova, A, Delbue, D, Fortmueller, L, Gehmlich, K, Pavlovic, D, Skryabin, BV, Holmes, AP, Kirchhof, P & Fabritz, L 2022, 'Familial atrial fibrillation mutation M1875T-SCN5A increases early sodium current and dampens the effect of flecainide', EP Europace. https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euac218

O’Shea, C, Winter, J, Kabir, SN, O’Reilly, M, Wells, SP, Baines, O, Sommerfeld, LC, Correia, J, Lei, M, Kirchhof, P, Holmes, AP, Fabritz, L, Rajpoot, K & Pavlovic, D 2022, 'High resolution optical mapping of cardiac electrophysiology in pre-clinical models', Scientific Data, vol. 9, no. 1, 135. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01253-1

O'Brien, S-M, Holmes, A, Johnson, D, Kabir, SN, O'Shea, C, O'Reilly, M, Avezzu, A, Reyat, J, Hall, AW, Apicella, C, Ellinor, PT, Niederer, S, Tucker, NR, Fabritz, L, Kirchhof, P & Pavlovic, D 2022, 'Increased atrial effectiveness of flecainide conferred by altered biophysical properties of sodium channels', Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, vol. 166, pp. 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.01.009

MacMillan, S, Holmes, AP, Dallas, ML, Mahmoud, AD, Shipston, MJ, Peers, C, Hardie, DG, Kumar, P & Evans, AM 2022, 'LKB1 is the gatekeeper of carotid body chemosensing and the hypoxic ventilatory response', Communications Biology, vol. 5, no. 1, 642. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03583-7

Swiderska, A, Coney, AM, Alzahrani, AA, Aldossary, HS, Batis, N, Ray, CJ, Kumar, P & Holmes, AP 2021, 'Mitochondrial succinate metabolism and reactive oxygen species are important but not essential for eliciting carotid body and ventilatory responses to hypoxia in the rat', Antioxidants, vol. 10, no. 6, 840. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10060840

Holmes, AP, Saxena, P, Kabir, SN, O'Shea, C, Kuhlmann, SM, Gupta, S, Fobian, D, Apicella, C, O'Reilly, M, Syeda, F, Reyat, JS, Smith, GL, Workman, AJ, Pavlovic, D, Fabritz, L & Kirchhof, P 2021, 'The atrial resting membrane potential confers sodium current sensitivity to propafenone, flecainide and dronedarone', Heart Rhythm, vol. 2021, no. 00, pp. 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2021.03.016

Alzahrani, AA, Cao, LL, Aldossary, HS, Nathanael, D, Fu, J, Ray, CJ, Brain, KL, Kumar, P, Coney, AM & Holmes, AP 2021, 'β-Adrenoceptor blockade prevents carotid body hyperactivity and elevated vascular sympathetic nerve density induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia', Pfluegers Archiv: European journal of physiology , vol. 473, no. 1, pp. 37-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-020-02492-0

Holmes, AP, Ray, CJ, Kumar, P & Coney, AM 2020, 'A student practical to conceptualize the importance of Poiseuille’s law and flow control in the cardiovascular system', Advances in Physiology Education. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00004.2019

Holmes, AP 2020, 'Damage control: carotid body activation and remodelling in response to aseptic tissue injury', Experimental Physiology, vol. 105, no. 9, pp. 1467-1469. https://doi.org/10.1113/EP088923

Comment/debate

MacMillan, S, Holmes, AP, Dallas, ML, Mahmoud, AD, Shipston, MJ, Peers, C, Hardie, DG, Kumar, P & Evans, AM 2022, 'Publisher correction: LKB1 is the gatekeeper of carotid body chemosensing and the hypoxic ventilatory response (Communications biology (2022) 5 1 (642))', Communications Biology, vol. 5, no. 1, 765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03744-8

Review article

Holmes, AP, Swiderska, A, Nathanael, D, Aldossary, HS, Ray, CJ, Coney, AM & Kumar, P 2022, 'Are multiple mitochondrial related signalling pathways involved in carotid body oxygen sensing?', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 13, 908617. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.908617

Short survey

O'Shea, C, Kabir, SN, Holmes, AP, Lei, M, Fabritz, L, Rajpoot, K & Pavlovic, D 2020, 'Cardiac optical mapping – state-of-the-art and future challenges', International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, vol. 126, 105804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocel.2020.105804

View all publications in research portal