Michael Murphy - Biography#

Over the past three decades Mike Murphy has been a leader in mitochondrial research, notable for his pioneering studies of how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to pathology and in the development of mitochondria-targeted therapies and probes. His work has taken insights from basic research all the way to the clinic. A key motivation behind his research is that disruption to mitochondrial redox function contributes to a wide range of pathologies, making mitochondria an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Through his leadership he has fostered the emerging view that mitochondria are a major therapeutic target and by his constant advocacy helped nurture the growing field of mitochondrial pharmacology.

Mike Murphy received his BA in chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin in 1984 and his PhD in Biochemistry at Cambridge University in 1987. He took up a faculty position in Biochemistry at the University of Otago, New Zealand in 1992. In 2001 he moved to the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, UK. Murphy’s research focuses on the roles of reactive oxygen species in mitochondrial function and pathology. He has pioneered the targeting of bioactive and probe molecules to mitochondria in vivo. This general methodology is now widely used. Prominent mitochondria-targeted compounds are antioxidants, such as MitoQ, which protects against oxidative damage in ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Murphy developed MitoQ as an oral drug which has been used in two Phase II trials so far. This work established mitochondria as a relevant drug target and opened up the field of mitochondrial pharmacology. Recently his work has extended to determining the mechanism by which mitochondria produce free radicals during ischaemia-reperfusion injury in heart attack and stroke which is now leading to potential therapies for cardiac and brain ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Murphy is Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at the University of Cambridge, a Wellcome Trust Investigator, an MRC Investigator, an honorary research Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand, a recipient of the Keilin Medal from the Biochemical Society, an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). Murphy has 11 patents, has published more than 440 peer reviewed papers, which have garnered more than 80,000 citations and he has an h-index of 142.

He is a leading opinion former in mitochondrial and redox biology through publications, editorial and advisory boards, consulting for the pharmaceutical industry, conference organisation and media (e.g. BBC R4 “In Our Time”). He has written a number of influential reviews. To conclude, Murphy has illuminated mitochondrial biology by combining bioenergetics, chemical biology, redox proteomics and metabolomics to understand how mitochondria contribute to human diseases and he has translated this knowledge to the clinic, developing new classes of therapies.