The Peet Laboratory is interested in characterising the molecular mechanisms by which cells are able to sense and respond to hypoxia in normal physiology and disease.The ability of essentially all cells in the body to sense and respond to changes in oxygen, specifically low oxygen (or hypoxia), is crucial for survival, but also involved in most major human diseases. These changes may be environmental, such as high altitude, or part of the normal developmental process. However, hypoxia is also an important factor in many major human diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, vascular disease and cancer.A key way that cells respond to hypoxia is by modulating gene expression. Central to hypoxic gene regulation are the hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs). These essential transcription factors are regulated by a family of oxygen-sensing hydroxylases that control both the protein level and transcriptional activity of the HIFs, resulting in activation when oxygen levels decrease. We currently use the latest techniques in molecular biology, cell culture, protein chemistry and metabolic analysis to understand the role of this pathway in normal physiology and disease.