M. Ian Phillips, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Biographical Sketch | Interests | Current Research | Major Publications
Ph.D. University of Birmingham, UK
D.Sc. University of Birmingham, UK
B.S., University of Exeter
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Phillips received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He trained as a post doc at the University of Michigan and at the California Institute of Technology. He became a Professor of Physiology and of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa. Dr. Phillips received the award of Humboldt Foundation Scholar and spent a year in Germany at the University of Heidelberg and in Switzerland at the University of Zurich. He also spent a year at NIH and at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Phillips moved to the University of Florida in 1980 as the Chairman of Physiology. At UF he founded the department of functional genomics and built a modern gene oriented Department of Physiology. Dr Phillips' research established a brain renin angiotensin system which has broad effects on behavior and cardiovascular disease. He initiated a gene therapy approach to hypertension. For his research he received major grants, including a prestigious MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health and grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation. In 2002 Dr. Phillips was selected by USF as the Vice President for Research. As Vice President he organized the construction of the Research Building and Business Incubator in the USF Research Park, increased total research awards to USF and conducted the search for a new Dean of the College of Medicine and VP for the Health Sciences Center that resulted in the recruitment of Dr. Steve Klasko. In 2005 Dr. Phillips retired as VP for Research but continued as Professor of Physiology. His research is on stem cell therapy in heart disease and diabetes. His research is currently funded by three NIH RO-1 grants. His laboratory is at the Department of Pediatrics, Children's Research Institute, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
During his career Dr. Phillips has taught over 3,000 medical students and trained 40 Ph.D. student and Postdoctoral fellows. He has published 12 books and 300 papers and reviews. He is editor-in-chief of the journal "Regulatory Peptides".
Areas of Interest
Stem cell physiology and therapy
Gene switching with hypoxia (Vigilant Vectors)
Hypertension treatment with RNA inhibition
Myocardial protection with antisense and stem cells
Current Research
We have developed a gene delivery vector which is only active when the tissue in which the gene has been delivered, such as heart, experiences low oxygen (hypoxia). This vigilant vector then switches on cardioprotective genes or stem cell homing genes that reduce the damage of ischemia and begin the process of healing. (for further description see Dr. Yaoliang Tang).
Inhibition of RNA prevents specific proteins from being synthesized. This can be an important therapy where overexpression of specific proteins are a major cause of disease. By using siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides we have developed a gene therapy to hypertension and to heart disease, where genes of the renin angiotensin system or beta adrenergic receptors are overexpressed.
Stem cells have great potential for therapeutic use but little is known of their physiology. We are addressing questions such as what pathways in the stem cell are triggered when the cell commits to developing into a specific tissue and can this process be reversed. The lab has also established that stem cells release peptides and may have a paracrine effect which can explain their effects.
Major Publications
a) Textbook
Pfaff D, Phillips MI, Rubin R. Principles of Hormone Behavior Relationships. Elsevier, 2004.
b) Papers
Phillips, M.I. Functions of brain angiotensin. Ann. Rev. of Physiol., 49:413-435, 1987. * Cited over 600 times
Phillips, M.I., Speakman, E.A. and Kimura, B. Levels of angiotensin and molecular biology of the tissue renin-angiotensin systems. Reg. Pep. 43:1-20, 1992. * Cited over 150 times. Establishes a tissue renin angiotensin system
Phillips, M.I., Shen, L., Richards, E.M., and Raizada, M.K. Immunohistochemical mapping of angiotensin AT1 receptors in the brain. Reg. Pep 44(2):95-107, 1993 * Cited over 100 times.
Phillips, M.I. Gene therapy for hypertension: The Preclinical Data. Hypertension 39(2):543-548 2001
Phillips, M.I., Schmitt-Ott, K., Qian, K., Kagiyama, S., Tan, Y. Vigilant vectors: heart-specific promoter in an adeno-associated virus vector for cardioprotection. Hypertension 39(2):651-655, 2002. * First demonstration of an intelligent vector that can sense low oxygen and switch on genes
Tang, Y.L., Zhao, Q., Zhang, Y.C., Cheng, L., Liu, M., Shi, J., Yang, Y.Z., Pan, C., Phillips, M.I. Autologous mesenchymal stem cell transplantation induce VEGF and neovascularization in ischemic myocardium. Regul Pept. 2004 Jan 15; 117 (1):3-10. * In one year cited 20 times. Shows that stem cells secrete vital hormones.
Tang, Y.L., Tang, Y., Zhang, Y.C., Agrawal, A., Kasahara, H., Qian, K., Shen, L., Phillips, M.I., A hypoxia-inducible vigilant vectoring system for activating therapeutic genes in ischemia. Gene Ther. (Nature Publishing Group) 31, 2005.