Cardiovascular research themes

Skeletal muscle in health and disease

Skeletal muscle is vital for life, underpinning locomotion, respiration, and metabolism, yet we still poorly understand its response to exercise and disease.

Our research focuses on skeletal muscle structure and function using a range of approaches from assessment of fundamental molecular mechanisms that underlie excitation-contraction coupling through to whole-body functional measures that underpin muscle performance. Our interests lie in the muscle itself, including blood vessels and fibre composition, as well as in the neural mechanisms and pathways through which the central nervous system and skeletal muscles communicate.

We investigate the mechanisms of a range of conditions/diseases which affect skeletal muscle including fatigue, atrophy/hypertrophy, malignant hyperthermia, statin myopathy and heart failure, with a focus on the influence of physical activity, nutrition and drugs.

View a list of academics within Skeletal Muscle in Health and Disease

View a list of postdoctoral researchers within Skeletal Muscle in Health and Disease

Name	Area of expertise
Dr Al Benson Lecturer in Cardiovascular Science	Computational modelling; magnetic resonance imaging; cardiopulmonary exercise testing; near infrared spectroscopy
Dr T. Scott Bowen Lecturer in Exercise Physiology	Contractile function; muscle atrophy/hypertrophy; mitochondrial function; diaphragm; exercise training; small-molecule therapeutics
Dr Sarah Calaghan Associate Professor in Cardiac Physiology	Calcium handling; muscle contraction; caveolae; protein chemistry; post translational modification; light and electron microscopy; rodent exercise analysis
Professor Stuart Egginton Leadership Chair in Exercise Science
Dr Carrie Ferguson Lecturer in Physiology	Mechanisms of exercise intolerance; cardiopulmonary exercise testing; VO2kinetics; exercise intensity; exercise bioenergetics
Dr Ronaldo Ichiyama Associate Professor in Motor Control	Neural control of movement; motoneurones; rehabilitation; neural trauma
Dr Izzy Jayasinghe Lecturer in Cardiovascular Science	Super-resolution microscopy of the calcium signalling and contractile machinery as an avenue to understand the structural basis of skeletal muscle contraction and the fine remodelling which takes place in chronic (inherited) diseases and acute muscle damage
Dr Matthew Lancaster Lecturer in Exercise Physiology	Sarcopenia with ageing; protection against sarcopenia
Professor Derek Steele Professor of Cellular Physiology	Skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling; calcium signaling; electrophysiology; confocal imaging
Dr Bryan Taylor University Academic Fellow in Cardiovascular Exercise Medicine	Electrical and magnetic nerve stimulation; exercise-induced respiratory and locomotor muscle fatigue; assessment of central and peripheral mechanisms of fatigue