James Nathan, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Cambridge, is a leading respiratory clinician-scientist, internationally recognised for groundbreaking discoveries in cellular oxygen and nutrient sensing. His cutting-edge approaches, combining human genetic screens with biochemical studies, have found how metabolism and oxygen-sensing intersect to control inflammation and tumour formation. Recognising the importance of academic-industry partnerships, he has built on his scientific discoveries to develop industry collaborations and was one of only four groups selected to form a worldwide Pfizer ITEN Research Collaboration. He now leads the respiratory mechanisms arm of the Cambridge-GSK Translational Immunology Collaboration partnership to develop new strategies to investigate and treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease.