Surawee Chuaiphichai

Dr Surawee Chuaiphichai is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, at the University of Oxford, based at the Centre for Human Genetics. He works within Professor Keith Channon’s laboratory, where he leads an independent programme investigating how vascular and metabolic disturbances during pregnancy programme long-term cardiovascular risk in both mothers and offspring.

Dr Chuaiphichai was awarded a four-year British Heart Foundation DPhil studentship at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College), where he completed his doctoral training in Professor Channon’s laboratory. His doctoral and postdoctoral work established a central role for endothelial tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) biosynthesis in regulating vascular function, blood pressure control, and pregnancy outcomes.

Research overview

Dr Chuaiphichai’s research sits at the interface of vascular biology, metabolism, and developmental programming, with a particular focus on how maternal vascular and metabolic dysfunction shapes lifelong cardiovascular risk. His work has provided the first direct experimental evidence that endothelial BH4 deficiency alone is sufficient to cause maternal hypertension, impaired uteroplacental remodelling, and fetal growth restriction, identifying endothelial redox imbalance as a key driver of hypertensive pregnancy.

Building on these findings, his research has contributed to the development of folate-based therapeutic strategies, including the use of 5-methyl-(6S)-tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), with translation into intellectual property and an ongoing clinical trial in pregnancy-related hypertension.

More recently, Dr Chuaiphichai has expanded his programme to address long-term cardiovascular programming, demonstrating persistent maternal and offspring vascular dysfunction following hypertensive pregnancy. Using novel inducible, tissue-specific mouse models, his work dissects adult-onset and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms, including the contribution of hepatic BH4 deficiency and altered phenylalanine metabolism to systemic cardiovascular risk.

Key research themes

Vascular BH4, endothelial function, and hypertension
Dr Chuaiphichai has shown that endothelial BH4 deficiency leads to nitric oxide synthase uncoupling, impaired vasodilation, increased vascular resistance, and hypertension. His work using inducible endothelial-specific Gch1 deletion models has been instrumental in defining BH4 as a central regulator of vascular homeostasis in adult physiology and disease.

BH4, pregnancy, and maternal–offspring cardiovascular programming
His studies demonstrate that endothelial BH4 deficiency during pregnancy causes gestational hypertension, abnormal uteroplacental remodelling, and fetal growth restriction, with lasting consequences for maternal and offspring cardiovascular health. Importantly, this work established proof-of-concept that targeting folate-dependent redox pathways can rescue vascular and pregnancy phenotypes, providing a mechanistic foundation for therapeutic intervention.

Vascular metabolic programming and systemic cardiometabolic risk
Dr Chuaiphichai is developing an emerging research programme on vascular metabolic programming, examining how maternal hyperphenylalaninaemia and hepatic BH4 deficiency influence vascular function, placental biology, immune cell reprogramming, and long-term cardiometabolic outcomes.