Inflammation, Exercise and Metabolism
Research Group
Dr David Stensel talks about his research
During the past 10 years, our group has added to the evidence base that exercise has a profound effect on the immune system. This research is equally applicable to the elite athlete as it is to those suffering from chronic disease.
The discovery that contracting muscle fibres release substantial amounts of cytokines during exercise together with the fact that
Dr Sarabjit Mastana talks about his research
enlarged adipocytes of obese individuals recruit macrophages and promote inflammation necessitates that our studies combine whole body exercise interventions with detailed analysis of blood, muscle and adipose tissue. A key element of the group’s work is how we can optimise the exercise intervention and use nutrition to manipulate the relationship between exercise and the subsequent inflammatory response.
Dr Richard Ferguson talks about his research
Through a mixture of both fundamental and applied research involving a multidisciplinary approach our work strives to produce a clear evidence base on which to advise athletes and those undertaking exercise for health on how to optimise their training regimens.
Latest Activities
September 2012
Dr Stensel delivered 2 invited lectures to the Brazilian Physiological Society at their Annual Conference in Gramado, Brazil: 'Exercise and appetite regulation: appetite responses to acute exercise' and 'Exercise and postprandial lipaemia'.
15 March 2012
Maurice Dungey, a PhD student in the group, has been shortlisted along with colleagues in the Renal Exercise team at University Hospitals Leicester for the British Medical Journal's 'Sport and Exercise Team of the Year' award. The team is one of just four to make the shortlist, which is a great achievement in itself. Maurice is co-supervised by Dr Lettie Bishop and Dr David Stensel.
Further information →
6th February 2012
Professor Mike Gleeson is carrying out research into the effects of exercise on immune function and susceptibility to infection and has recorded a podcast on this topic for the Society for General Microbiology.
Listen to the podcast →
9-10th September 2011
Staff and students attended and presented work at the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine 8th Annual Scientific Meeting, Trinity College, Dublin, and we are delighted that Marta Oliveira won the prize for the best oral presentation.
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6-8th September 2011
Staff and students attended and presented work at the BASES Annual meeting, held at the University of Essex and we delighted that Kevin Deighton won the Routledge Recently Qualified Researcher Oral Presentation Award.
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1 September 2011
An article, co-authored by members of the group, entitled, 'The anti-inflammatory effects of exercise: mechanisms and implications for the prevention and treatment of disease', has been accepted for publication in the September issue of Nature Reviews Immunology, a leading journal in its field.
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11-13th July 2011
Group staff and students attended and presented work at the 10th Symposium of the International Society of Exercise and Immunology.
Our research was very well received with three of our students receiving prizes and commendations for their work.
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6-9th July 2011
Group staff and students attended and presented work at the 16th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science.
31st May - 4 June 2011
Group staff and students attended and presented work at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting.
Group membership
Academic staff
| Prof MA Nimmo | Professor of Exercise Physiology |
| Prof M Gleeson | Professor of Exercise Biochemistry |
| Dr D Stensel | Reader in Exercise Metabolism |
| Dr NC Bishop | Senior Lecturer |
| Dr R Ferguson | Senior Lecturer |
| Dr S Mastana | Senior Lecturer |
| Dr K Tolfrey | Senior Lecturer |
| Dr Carl Hulston | Lecturer |
| Dr Lewis James | Lecturer |
| Dr MR Lindley | Lecturer |
| Dr Phil Watson | Lecturer |
| Prof A Hardman | Emeritus Professor of Human Exercise Metabolism |
| Prof C Williams | Emeritus Professor of Sports Science |
Visiting Academic
Dr Harumi Hayshida
Research Associates
| Dr Melanie Leggate |
| Dr Amarjit Saini |
Post-doctoral assistants:
| Dr J.A. King |
PhD students
| Nawal Alajmi |
| Saravana Arjunan |
| Kevin Deighton |
| Jessica Douglas |
| Naroa Etxebarria |
| Jacqueline Fitt |
| Cheng-Shiun He (Leo) |
| Julie Hunt |
| Ben Kelly |
| Sohpie Killer |
| Christof Leicht |
| Ayu Muhamad |
| Elena Papacosta |
| Thomas Paulson |
| Jamie Pugh |
| Paul Sindall |
| Siobhan Svendsen |
| Aishwarya Varma |
External collaborations
| Prof. S. Agrawal | Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India |
| Dr Judith Allgrove | Greenwich University |
| Dr P Ansley | Northumbria University |
| Dr Rachel Batterham | University College London |
| Dr David Broom | Sheffield Hallam University |
| Dr Stephen Burns | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
| Dr Graeme Close | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Dr H.K. Datta | Newcastle University |
| Prof M Davies | University of Leicester |
| Dr Glen Davison | University of Kent |
| Prof. R. Deka | University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA |
| Prof William Fraser | University of East Anglia |
| Prof Simon Jones | Cardiff University |
| Prof K Kunti | University of Leicester |
| Dr T.D. Mickleborough | Indiana University USA |
| Dr Masashi Miyashita | Waseda University, Japan |
| Prof I Pavord | Leicester Institute of Lung Health |
| Prof Alvaro Reischak-Oliveira | Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| Dr A. Samanta | University Hospital and Leicester University |
| Dr D. Shaw | Nottingham University |
| Dr Rickie Simpson | University of Houston, USA |
| Dr Alice Smith | Leicester University/UHL |
| Dr Caroline Sunderland | Nottingham Trent University |
| Dr Pedro Tauler | University of the Balearic Islands, Spain |
| Dr Ana Texeira | Coimbra University, Portugal |
| Prof Paul Travers | Edinburgh University |
| Prof V Unnithan | Staffordshire University |
| Prof Neil Walsh | Bangor University |