Research focus
My role as Head of the Stable Isotope Laboratory is to oversee the running of the mass spectrometry laboratories and to provide methodological input for stable isotope studies. I oversee and contribute to methodological input, isotope dose provision, sample and data processing, modelling, data interpretation and report writing for stable isotope related studies.
Background and experience
I completed my PhD at the University of Birmingham in 2008, and worked in postdoctoral positions at the University of Birmingham and Oxford Brookes University. In 2012, I joined the MRC Human Nutrition Research Unit, Cambridge, to develop my skills in the use of stable isotopes in metabolic research. I now work as Head of the Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.
Working at the IMS-MRL
Our laboratory has local, national and international collaborations with researchers who use stable isotopes for metabolic research. This includes the measurement of total energy expenditure using the reference method of doubly labelled water, body composition using deuterated water, breast milk intake using the dose-to-mother method and substrate kinetics. I have a long-standing collaboration with the NIHR Clinical Research Facility in Cambridge, investigating the relationships between growth, body composition and energy expenditure in healthy people and patient populations.
Awards
Co-I MRC New Investigator Award: Novel non-invasive assessment of de novo lipogenesis and its mechanistic role in human insulin resistance.
Co-workers and collaborators
Daniel Griffiths
Alison Sleigh
Claire Connell
