Biography:David Fell (professor)

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David Fell
NationalityUK
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Known formetabolic control analysis, elementary modes, flux balance analysis
Scientific career
Fieldssystems biology, network biology, genetics
InstitutionsOxford Brookes University
Thesis (1974)
Doctoral advisorArthur Peacocke

David A. Fell (Born 16 December 1947) is a British-born biochemist. He is Professor of Systems Biology at Oxford Brookes University. He was Assistant Dean, School of Life Sciences from 1988 to 2011. He has published over 190 publications including a textbook on "Understanding the control of metabolism".[1] in 1996.

David Fell has held numerous positions in industry, academia and government. These include the editorial board of the Biochemical Society Transactions, the Scientific Advisory Board, Nottingham Synthetic Biology Research Centre[2], Deputy Director of C1net[3], a BBSRC Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, Member, BBSRC Strategy Panel for Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, Member, External Advisory Committee, Center for the Analysis of Cellular Mechanisms and Systems Biology, Montana State University[4], Chair, Scientific Advisory Board of the Helmholtz Alliance for Systems Biology (Germany)[5], Chair, Scientific Advisory Board of Warwick Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre[6], Chair, International Study Group for Systems Biology (http://sysbio.brookes.ac.uk), Biochemical Society: Bioenergetics and Metabolism Panel[7], Member of BBSRC Engineering and Biological Systems Committee, Member of BBSRC Integrative and Systems Biology Strategy Panel, Chair and member of BBSRC Strategy Board, Member of the Advisory Board for the NIH-funded Center for Modeling Integrated Metabolic Systems[8], Case Western University, Cleveland, Member of the Policy Committee of the Biochemical Society[9].

He is also an external member of the University of Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology[10] and a member of its Management Committee and a tutor/supervisor for the University of Oxford Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre[11].

In 2001, he helped start and became the Chief Scientific Officer for the Oxford company, Phyiomics plc[12]. This company uses computer simulation as an aid to discovering new therapeutic targets and strategies for the pharmaceutical industry. He is also on the Scientific Advisory Board of ValiRx plc.[13]

Early work

David Fell's first degree was in biochemistry from Mansfield College, Oxford University and then subsequently did research on the physical biochemistry of yeast Pyruvate Kinase[14] under the supervision of Arthur Peacocke for which he was awarded a DPhil ("Structural studies on yeast pyruvate kinase"). After completing his DPhil he obtained a position at Oxford Polytechnic as a lecturer. His early work at Oxford Polytechnic focused on hemoglobin where he developed more precise techniques for monitoring oxygen saturation[15] and the breakdown of 2,3-Bisphosphoglyceric acid by Fe(III)-haemomlogbin[16]. At this time he also worked on the first modeling studies related to the functioning of high- and low-Km cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases on the regulation of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)[17]

Later career

From the early 1980s David Fell switched his research to systems biology and was one of the very earliest systems biologists in the UK. The other notable systems biologist at time was Henrik Kacser at the University of Edinburgh. Given that his early work had a significant mathematical and computational component, he was ideally positioned to consider a more quantitative approach to studying the properties of cellular networks. It was against this background that he turned to the relatively new field called metabolic control analysis as a means to understand the principles of metabolic regulation. Before the development of metabolic control analysis, understanding metabolism was based on qualitative arguments which resulted in some incorrect conclusions (Rate limiting steps). Much of Fell's research for the next 20 years focused on extending and applying metabolic control analysis to metabolism. This work culminated in the publication of his textbook, "Understanding the control of metabolism".[18] In 1986 he published with his graduate student Rankin Small, one of the earliest flux balance models where they used linear programming to examine the efficiency in the conversion of glucose into fat[19]. He was also one of the first researchers to use the Gillespie method for stochastic simulation in cellular biology[20], a method that is now routinely used in systems biology. In the late 1990s his research started shifting more towards stoichiometric analysis with particular emphasis on elementary modes[21] and the analysis of larger networks such as those involved in photosynthesis[22] and whole genome scale models in a variety of organisms including one of the first genome scale models of Arabidopsis[23].

Influential publications

Other than his textbook which has been cited 1464 times (Sept, 2018), his top ten publications include[24]: two publications related to the evolutionary age of metabolism using small world analysis, the definition of a pathway in terms of elementary modes, three reviews on metabolic control analysis including a republication of the seminal work, Control of Flux by Kacser and Burns, two research papers on metabolic control analysis, one of the earliest papers on the use of flux balance analysis, one of the earliest papers that describes a model the MAPK pathway in EGF signaling, and well as the earliest paper that describes the whole genome scale model of the plant Arabidopsis.

Family

Fell is married with three children.

References

  1. ↑ David, Fell (1997). Understanding the control of metabolism. Portland Press. ISBN 9781855780477. OCLC 553392040. http://worldcat.org/oclc/553392040. 
  2. ↑ "Synthetic Biology Research Centre Nottingham". http://sbrc-nottingham.ac.uk/. 
  3. ↑ Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research. "Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (BBSRC NIBB) - BBSRC". https://bbsrc.ukri.org/research/programmes-networks/research-networks/nibb/. 
  4. ↑ "Maps". https://www.nigms.nih.gov/maps/Pages/Centers-of-Biomedical-Research-Excellence-Participating-Institutions.aspx. 
  5. ↑ "Systems Biology". https://www.helmholtz.de/en/about_us/networks_and_cooperation/helmholtz_alliances/systems_biology/. 
  6. ↑ "Warwick Systems Biology Centre". https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/systemsbiology/about/findus/. 
  7. ↑ "Biochemical Society - Theme Panels - III Bioenergetics and Metabolism". http://www.biochemsoc.org.uk/themes/00833136/. 
  8. ↑ "Center for Modeling Integrated Metabolic Systems (MIMS) — Case Western Reserve University". https://cwru.pure.elsevier.com/en/projects/center-for-modeling-integrated-metabolic-systems-mims-2. 
  9. ↑ Bioscience, Biochemical Society | Advancing Molecular. "Committees and governance | Biochemical Society". https://www.biochemistry.org/AboutUs/CommitteesGovernance.aspx. 
  10. ↑ "Welcome to the Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology website — OCISB". http://www.sysbio.ox.ac.uk/. 
  11. ↑ "The Doctoral Training Centre | Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre". http://www.sysbiodtc.ox.ac.uk/the-doctoral-training-centre/index.html. 
  12. ↑ "Home - Physiomics". https://www.physiomics-plc.com/. 
  13. ↑ "Home - Valirx". https://www.valirx.com/. 
  14. ↑ Fell, David A.; Liddle, Peter F.; Peacocke, Arthur R.; Dwek, Raymond A. (1974). "The preparation and properties of pyruvate kinase from yeast". Biochemical Journal 139 (3): 665–675. doi:10.1042/bj1390665. ISSN 0264-6021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bj1390665. 
  15. ↑ Fell, David. "An automated mixing apparatus for determining haemoglobin-oxygen dissociation". The Journal of physiology 2823: 3P-4P. 
  16. ↑ El-Yassin, D I; Fell, D A; Lloyd, B B; Fisher, R B (1979). "The breakdown of 2,3-bis(phospho)-d-glycerate by Fe(III)-haemoglobin". Biochemical Journal 177 (1): 373–375. doi:10.1042/bj1770373. ISSN 0264-6021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bj1770373. 
  17. ↑ Fell, David A. (1980). "Theoretical analyses of the functioning of the high- and low-Km cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases in the regulation of the concentration of adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate in animal cells". Journal of Theoretical Biology 84 (2): 361–385. doi:10.1016/s0022-5193(80)80011-7. ISSN 0022-5193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0022-5193(80)80011-7. 
  18. ↑ David, Fell (1997). Understanding the control of metabolism. Portland Press. ISBN 9781855780477. OCLC 553392040. http://worldcat.org/oclc/553392040. 
  19. ↑ Fell, D A; Small, J R (1986). "Fat synthesis in adipose tissue. An examination of stoichiometric constraints". Biochemical Journal 238 (3): 781–786. doi:10.1042/bj2380781. ISSN 0264-6021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bj2380781. 
  20. ↑ Moniz-Barreto, P.; Fell, D. A. (1996), "Simulation of Dioxygen Free Radical Reactions: Their Importance in the Initiation of Lipid Peroxidation", Biomedical and Life Physics (Vieweg+Teubner Verlag): pp. 137–144, ISBN 9783322850195, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-85017-1_12, retrieved 2018-09-25 
  21. ↑ Schuster, S.; Hilgetag, C.; Schuster, R. (1996), "Determining Elementary Modes of Functioning in Biochemical Reaction Networks at Steady State", Biomedical and Life Physics (Vieweg+Teubner Verlag): pp. 101–114, ISBN 9783322850195, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-85017-1_9, retrieved 2018-09-25 
  22. ↑ Poolman, Mark G.; Fell, David A.; Raines, Christine A. (2003). "Elementary modes analysis of photosynthate metabolism in the chloroplast stroma". European Journal of Biochemistry 270 (3): 430–439. doi:10.1046/j.1432-1033.2003.03390.x. ISSN 0014-2956. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1432-1033.2003.03390.x. 
  23. ↑ Poolman, M. G.; Miguet, L.; Sweetlove, L. J.; Fell, D. A. (2009). "A Genome-Scale Metabolic Model of Arabidopsis and Some of Its Properties". PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 151 (3): 1570–1581. doi:10.1104/pp.109.141267. ISSN 0032-0889. http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.109.141267. 
  24. ↑ "David Fell - Google Scholar Citations". https://scholar.google.no/citations?user=KiFdFGQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao. 

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