Senior Research Technician, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
I am currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Nottingham. I am continuing my work on statin induced muscle myopathy and following… read more
I am currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Nottingham. I am continuing my work on statin induced muscle myopathy and following on from a previous post-doctoral position within the same research group in which we collaborated with AstraZeneca Ltd. Statins are used clinically for cholesterol reduction, but statin therapy is associated with myopathic changes through a poorly defined mechanism. From my work with Astrazeneca, we concluded that simvastatin administration impaired PI3k/Akt signalling, and upregulated FOXO transcription factors and downstream gene targets known to be implicated in proteasomal and lysosomal mediated protein breakdown, muscle carbohydrate oxidation, oxidative stress and inflammation in an in vivo model of statin induced myopathy. These findings have now formed the basis of a study looking at statin muscle myopathy in humans, sponsored by the Dunhill Medical Trust, in which we aim to determine the mechanisms involved in statin myopathy in order to find a prevention or treatment for this condition.
In between working at the School of Biomedical Sciences, I worked at the Vet School for 9 months. While there I was working on a BBSRC funded project examining the role of calcineurin in oxidative muscle fibre conversion and its role in the regulation of myosin heavy chain genes. Calcineurin signalling is one of the most important pathways in skeletal muscle that promotes oxidative fibre type formation. In animal production, skeletal muscles rich in oxidative fibres are indicative of superior meat quality traits, however, the molecular mechanisms governing fibre type-specific gene expression are far from clear. An added fundamental importance of oxidative fibre types is that greater oxidative capacity in muscle confers better metabolic efficiency and resistance to the development of metabolic diseases, like type 2 diabetes. By defining and understanding the targets that mediate the desirable oxidative fibre type outcome of calcineurin actions, this project aimed to make important contributions to muscle and meat biology.
School of Life SciencesUniversity of NottinghamMedical School Queen's Medical CentreNottingham NG7 2UH