Professor Robert Wilkins

Robert Wilkins graduated in Physiology from University College, Oxford. He subsequently completed a D.Phil. in the Laboratory of Physiology in Oxford, studying the cellular physiology of cartilage after which he was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church. In January 2004 he was appointed to a University Lectureship in Epithelial Physiology.

Prof. Wilkins was Coordinator for Admissions in Medicine at Oxford from 2007 until 2011. He is now the Director of the University’s Biomedical Sciences course that admitted its first students in October 2012. Prof. Wilkins is also the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Medical Sciences and Basic Science for Core Medical Training and the MRCP  (both OUP). In Trinity Term 2020, he was appointed as the University’s Director of Pre-clinical Studies.

His research has characterised the involvement of membrane transport pathways in osteoarthritis and epithelial cancers.

GIBSON, J.S., MILNER, P.I., WHITE, R., FAIRFAX, T.P. & WILKINS, R.J. (2008) Oxygen and reactive oxygen species in articular cartilage: modulators of ionic homeostasis. Eu. J. Physiol. 455:563-573

TATTERSALL, A.L. & WILKINS, R.J. (2008) Effects of hexosamines and omega-3/omega-6 fatty acids on pH regulation by interleukin 1-treated isolated bovine articular chondrocytes. Eu. J. Physiol. 456:501-506

TATTERSALL, A.L. & WILKINS, R.J. (2008) Modulation of Na⁺-H⁺ exchange isoforms NHE1 and NHE3 by insulin-like growth factor-1 in isolated bovine articular chondrocytes. J Orthop. Res.26:1428-1433

GIBSON, J.S., FAIRFAX, T.P.A., MCCARTNEY, D., MILNER, P.I. & WILKINS, R.J. (2009) Rapid effects of hypoxia on H⁺ homeostasis in articular chondrocytes. Eu. J. Physiol. 458:1085-1092

CHEN, Y.-F., CHOU, C.-Y., WILKINS, R.J., ELLORY, J.C., MOUNT, D. & SHEN, M.-R. (2009) Motor protein-dependent membrane trafficking of KCl cotransporter-4 is  important for cancer cell invasion. Cancer Res. 69:8585-859

BERNHARDT, I., ELLORY, J.C, GIBSON, J.S. & WILKINS, R.J. (2009) Ion permeability of membranes: from lipid bilayers to biological membranes. Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Membranes10:1-27

WEI, W.-C., AKERMAN, C.J., NEWEY, S.E., PAN, J. CLINCH, N.W, SHEN, M.-R., WILKINS, R.J. & ELLORY, J.C. (2011) The potassium chloride cotransporter 2 (KCC2) promotes cervical cancer cell migration and invasion by an ion transport-independent mechanism. J. Physiol. 589:5349-5359

MILNER, P.I., SMITH, H.C., NEWEY, S.E., PAN, J., CLINCH, N.W., WILKINS, R.J. & GIBSON, J.S. (2013) Growth factor regulation of intracellular pH homeostasis under hypoxic conditions in isolated equine articular chondrocytes. J. Orthop. Res. 31:197-203

SANCHEZ, J.C., LOPEZ-ZAPATA D.F., WILKINS, R.J. (2014) TRPV4 channels activity in bovine articular chondrocytes: regulation by obesity-associated mediators. Cell Calcium 56:493-503