Position
Profile
Qualifications
- PhD Biochemistry
- BSc (Hons) Biochemistry and Physiology
Teaching Expertise
- Supervision of undergraduate dissertations
Research Degree Supervision
- 10 PhD completions
- 36 MSc research projects supervised
- Currently supervising 13 PhD students
Research Interests
Sir Joseph Barcroft (1872-1947): “Exercise is not a mere variant of rest … it is the essence of the human machine”
Muscle Cellular and Molecular Physiology
The Polhill Bedford campus of the University of Bedfordshire has a long and distinguished history of physical activity scholarship. This dates back more than 100 years to the establishment of Bedford Training College (later Froebel College) in 1882 and The Bedford College of Physical Education in 1903.
As in many of its contemporaries, these colleges became the home of the developing discipline of Sport and Exercise Sciences: that is the study of the scientific principles underlying human activity and performance.
As such, physiology and biochemistry are key underpinning disciplines and, as the RAE2008 report in this area states – “The trend towards exercise science, identified in 2001, has continued. Within exercise science, there is evidence of a greater focus on the molecular biology, genetic, biochemical, physiological, biomechanical and psychological mechanisms underpinning engagement in and responses to exercise”.
As part of the UoB growth in this area, Professor Mark P Lewis has recently moved his Muscle Cell Biology and Molecular Physiology Group to the institution.
His group has over 10 year’s history in research in this area from the isolation, purification, characterisation and maintenance of primary human muscle precursor cells cultures through to studies on their proliferation, migration, fusion and maturation.
In recent years, the influence of the mechanical three-dimensional environment has come to the fore and the group now has at its disposal 3D biomimetic models that show some physiological and biochemical features of skeletal muscle.
The group has its own newly established and dedicated tissue culture facilities including specialist equipment for the growth and testing of three dimensional skeletal muscle tissue.
These exist alongside state of the art Exercise Science laboratories whilst facilities for biochemistry, histology, molecular biology (including qPCR) and microscopy (including electron and confocal) are also easily accessible.
Current ISPAR members of the Muscle Cellular and Molecular Physiology Group are:
- Dr Paul Castle
- Dr Nick Sculthorpe
- Postdoctoral Research Assistant (tbc)
- Iain Fletcher (PGR)
- Kevin Wyld (PGR)
- Darren Player (PGR)
- Neil Martin (PGR)
- James Tuttle (PGR)
- Paul Davies (PGR)
External Members of the Group:
- Dr Emma Spikings (LIRANS, UoB)
- Dr Vivek Mudera (UCL Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science)
- Professor Linda Greensmith (UCL Institute of Neurology)
- Dr Richard Ferguson (School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University)
- Alec Smith (PGR – UCL)
- Khalid Al-Qahtani (PGR – UCL)
- Karin Carlqvist (PGR – UCL)
- Iaonnis Levisianos (PGR – UCL)
- Rishma Shah (PGR – UCL)
- Andrea Sinanan (PGR – UCL)
Physical Activity and Health
Professor Lewis is also a member of this research grouping which incorporates a number of staff interests relating in particular to the relationship between physical activity and health in both adults and children.
Professor Lewis’ work in this area falls into the following projects:
Jaw muscle molecular physiology and craniofacial abnormalities – Professor Nigel Hunt (UCL Eastman Dental Institute) and Dr Anna Odman (University of Göteborg)
Sports Dentistry; the impact of sporting activity on the tissues of the jaw and face. These projects are concerned with establishment of physiologically relevant models of jaw bone and oral mucosa – Professor Stephen Porter, Dr Vehid Salih and Claire Raison (PGR – UCL) (UCL Eastman Dental Institute), Dr Julie Daniels and Dr Anna Harris (PDRA employed on Fight for Sight Grant) (UCL Institute of Opthalmology).
Research Projects
- University of Bedfordshire Bursary (Studentship: PAUL DAVIES) – Molecular mechanisms underlying deterioration of muscle performance with age– £62,370: 2010-2013.
- NC3Rs (Project Grant: TBC) - Engineering fully functional, integrated skeletal muscle - £495,394: 2009-2012.
- Fight for Sight (Project Grant: ANNA HARRIS) – Driving oral mucosal epithelial cells towards a corneal phenotype for therapeutic transplantation - £159,992: 2009-2012.
- University of Bedfordshire Bursary (Studentship: DARREN PLAYER) – How can 3D-bioengineered skeletal muscle be used in sports performance research? – £62,370: 2009-2012.
- University of Bedfordshire Bursary (Studentship: NEIL MARTIN) – Satellite cell activation and its role in resistance training – £62,370: 2009-2012.
- Charitable Trust (Studentship: CLAIRE RAISON) – In-Vitro 3D tissue modelling: insights into Ameloblastoma pathogenesis - £150,000: 2009-2012.
- MRC DTA (Studentship: ALEC SMITH) – Creating viable muscle-motor neuron synaptic interactions in an in vitro 3D collagen co-culture gel model: £60,000; 2008-2011.
- UCLH CRDC Project Grant - From Muscle to Tendon: Muscle Derived Stem Cells for the engineering of new fascia: £79,170; 2006-2008.
Recently Completed Research Projects
- Determination of the efficiency of stem cells derived from craniofacial muscle for repair of skeletal defects (Khalid Al-Qahtani, PGR)
- Comparative molecular and physical analysis of bone produced from muscle and bone marrow derived adult stem cells (Karin Karlqvist, PGR)
- Soluble glass fibres as a scaffold for regenerating masseter muscle (Rishma Shah, PGR)
- Alpha-v integrin expression by human craniofacial myoblasts (Andrea Sinanan, PGR)
- Masseter muscle gene expression in relation to various craniofacial deformities: A genotype-phenotype study (Hadwa Moawad, PGR)
- Tissue Engineering of human neo-muscle organoid using mechanical stimulation (Mariea Brady, PGR)
- Gene therapy applications for muscle repair & muscular dystrophy using IGF-1 isoforms (Kenan Ates, PGR)
- Mechanisms of androgen effects on skeletal muscle with reference to IGF-1 and myostatin (Andrew Solomons, Research Fellow)
- Phenotypic differences between the ability of oral and dermal fibroblasts to repair dermal lesions (Batool Kazmi, PGR and PDRA)
External Roles
- Elected member of the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society Committee (Treasurer, 2008 to date)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Peer Review College.
Publications
- Lewis,M.P., Mudera,V., Cheema,U, Shah,R. (2009). Muscle Tissue Engineering. in Meyer,U., Meyer, Th., Handschel,J., Wiesmann,H.P., (ed.) Fundamentals of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 243-254.
- Kayhanian,H., Jones,S., Phillips,J., Lewis,M.P., Brown,R., Mudera,V. (2009). Host muscle cell infiltration in cell-seeded plastic compressed collagen constructs. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 3(1), 72-75.
- Suchak,A., Hunt,N.P., Shah,R., Sinanan,A.C.M., Lloyd,T., Lewis,M.P. (2009). Myosin proteins identified from masseter muscle using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction – a pilot study of relevance to orthodontics. European Journal of Orthodontics . 31(2), 196-201.
- Brady,M.A., Lewis,M.P., Mudera,V. (2008). Synergy between myogenic and non-myogenic cells in a 3D tissue-engineered craniofacial skeletal muscle construct. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 2(7), 408-417.
- Sinanan,A.C., Machell,J.R., Wynne-Hughes.G.T., Hunt,N.P., Lewis,M.P. (2008). Alpha v beta 3 and alpha v beta 5 integrins and their role in muscle precursor cell adhesion. Biology of the Cell 100(8), 465-477.
- Tippett,H.L., Dodgson,L.K., Hunt,N.P., Lewis,M.P. (2008). Indices of extracellular matrix turnover in human masseter muscles as markers of craniofacial form - a preliminary study. European Journal of Orthodontics 30(2), 217-225.
- Ates,K., Yang,S.Y., Orrell,R.W., Sinanan,A.C., Simons,P., Solomon,A., Beech,S., Goldspink,G., Lewis,M.P. (2007). The IGF-I splice variant MGF increases progenitor cells in ALS, dystrophic, and normal muscle. FEBS Letters 581(14), 2727-2732.
- Auluck,A., Mudera,V., Hunt,N.P., Lewis,M.P. (2005). A three-dimensional in vitro model system to study the adaptation of craniofacial skeletal muscle following mechanostimulation. European Journal of Oral Sciences 113(3), 218-224. ISSN: 0909-8836
- Shah,R., Sinanan,A.C.M., Knowles,J.C., Hunt,N.P., Lewis,M.P. (2005). Craniofacial muscle engineering using a 3-dimensional phosphate glass fibre construct. Biomaterials 26(13), 1497-1505.
- Sinanan,A.C.M., Hunt,N.P., Lewis,M.P. (2004). Human adult craniofacial muscle-derived cells: neural-cell-adhesion-molecule (NCAM; CD56)-expressing cells appear to contain multipotential stem cells. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 40(1), 25-34.
Invited Presentations
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK (2009) – From Jaws to Jumpers: bioengineered skeletal muscle and its applications from surgery to exercise physiology
- Society of Experimental Biology, Molecular and cellular aspects of tissue adaptation and repair, Glasgow, UK (2009) – 3D tissue engineering skeletal muscle – generating basic mechanisms in maintenance and turnover
- ERBI 11th Cambridge BioPartnering Exchange, Disruptive Technologies in Life Sciences (2009) – Muscle-derived stem cells
- London Regenerative Medicine Network, UK (2009) Cell Therapy: View from the front line – an academic experience
- Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Science, University of Portsmouth, UK (2008) – Facing the future: regeneration in the craniofacial region
- BBSRC/NC3Rs Engineering Tissue Alternatives to Animals Meeting, London UK (2008) – Tissue Engineering of the Neuromuscular Junction
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), London UK (2007) – Novel Glasses to Engineer Human Craniofacial Muscle
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