Members
Kostas Tsintzas
Professor of Human Physiology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
Contact
Research Summary
Interests
- Molecular basis of insulin resistance in obesity, diabetes and ageing
- Nutrient-gene interactions in skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue
- Regulation of substrate integration in skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue
- Nutrition and exercise in health and disease
Techniques
- Determination of skeletal muscle and cardiovascular function.
- Measurements of insulin sensitivity, energy expenditure and body composition.
- Use of hormone, lipid, and tracer infusions to assess metabolic health
- Determination of blood, liver and muscle metabolites and enzyme activities (fluorescence, spectrophotometry and radioimmunoassays).
- Microassays for single muscle fibre metabolites (fluorescence, radioisotopes, histochemistry).
- Characterisation of RNA and protein in skeletal muscle (Real-Time PCR, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting).
- Use of primary human skeletal muscle culture
Current Projects
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Increasing skeletal muscle carnitine content to improve glycaemic control in individuals recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes
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Effects of lipid-induced insulin resistance on human skeletal muscle protein turnover
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Skeletal muscle metabolism and gene expression in young and older subjects following recovery from exercise
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The role of FGF21 in the control of energy metabolism, food intake and body weight
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Effects of ageing and vitamin D deficiency on vitamin D receptor in human skeletal muscle
- Effects of skipping breakfast on metabolic health of middle aged lean and overweight individuals
Collaborators
- Dr Andy Bennett
- Dr Andy Murton
- Dr Tim Parr
- Dr Francis Stephens
- Prof. Fran Ebling
- Prof. Paul Greenhaff
- Prof. Ian Macdonald
- Prof. Opinder Sahota
- Dr James Betts (University of Bath)
- Dr Simon Jones (University of Birmingham)
- Prof. Luc vanLoon (University of Maastricht)
- Prof. Jeremy Tomlinson (University of Birmingham)