Dr Daniel Brayson

Dr Daniel Brayson


I was awarded my undergraduate degree in Physiology from the University of Manchester in 2008. After a short break I embarked on a 4 year BHF funded MRes/PhD doctoral training programme at King's College London which I completed in 2014. During this time I studied the importance of the heart muscle cell nucleus, and the molecules which safeguard its structure, in regulating heart physiology and pathology. I continued this work into my early postdoctoral career before moving to UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health to study the role of the plasma membrane protein, dystrophin, in heart development and function. 

In addition to these core interests, I am actively engaged in research aiming to understand how the human heart responds to heat stress, as well as research identifying mechanisms of ageing resilience in the Greenland Shark, the oldest vertebrate species known to science!

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and I am a member of many learned societies including the Royal Society of Biology, The British Society of Cardiovascular Research and The Physiological Society. In addition to being a full member I am also the early career trustee for The Physiological Society.

I have a passion for science engagement with policy makers and the publics. I have attended a number parliamentary science events to advocate for science and I have organised and delivered many successful public engagement initiatives including The Ultra Cycle Diaries and the UCL GOSICH Christmas Lecture Series in 2019 and 2022.


  • Centre for Resilience
  • Ageing Biology and Age-related Diseases

Sustainable Development Goals
In brief

Research areas

Heart function and disease

Skills / expertise

Ultrasound imaging, microscopy, Western blotting, qPCR, transcriptomics

Supervision interests

Heart research in humans and sharks