About
I have worked in the laboratory of Professor Shirazi-Beechey for the past 15 years in the area of comparative intestinal physiology. My main interests are in the digestive and absorptive processes surrounding sugar and amino acid absorption and nutrient sensing in the intestine. My work has involved a variety of mammalian species and various fish species and has centred on gene expression studies related to intestinal disease, dietary supplementation (artificial sweeteners), dietary manipulation and the regulation of nutrient transporters.
In my current project I am assessing the response of the swine gut to nutritive and non-nutritive artificial sweeteners using a pig enteroid (mini-gut) model.
I have previously investigated fish gut digestive and absorptive processes during development and in response to dietary change. This project was an industrial funding project interested in the responses of the gut in farmed fish such rainbow trout and common carp to changes in diet composition. The experimental fish species, zebrafish, was also used in order to investigate the regulatory processes involved in those responses. I have also been involved in a project investigating the effect of artificial sweetener supplementation on the composition of microbiota in the swine gut.
I am a Public Governor on the Council of Governors for Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2019-) and previously Lead Governor (April 2020 - Nov 2022).