Cellular and Molecular Physiology of Lifelong Health: Engagement and impact

It is a core goal of the Cellular and Molecular Physiology of Lifelong Health group to help translate science from the molecular level to practical ways to benefit the health of our local community and the greater population.

Community events

Research Roasters

A free event where members of the community can learn from and speak with early-career researchers from LJMU, speaking about their exercise and nutrition-related research. Organised by post-graduate researchers Krisztina Rudolf, Samanvita Ravikanti, Paige Cole and Lawrence Jones.

Find out more about Research Roasters.

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Podcasts

Vitamin D and the Athlete (Dan Owens)

An overview of vitamin D and its unique characteristics. Why vitamin D is one of the most "on trend" sports supplements used by elite and recreational athletes. The biological influences of vitamin D (incl. immunity, bone, and muscle). Deficiency, insufficiency and adequacy explored (incl. influencing factors such as diet, sun exposure during winter, skin colour, clothing and sunscreen etc). Assessing vitamin D Status and vitamin D supplements (incl. dosage, what forms, when, and when not to supplement).

Listen to Vitamin D and the Athlete.

Vitamin D and Athletes - Health, Performance and Testing (Dan Owens)

An overview of vitamin D’s role and it’s importance for health and performance.

Listen to Vitamin D and Athletes - Health, Performance and Testing.

Should I be taking vitamin D supplements? (Dan Owens)

What exactly is this nutrient that we can get without eating any food? Why is it so important to runners, cyclists and triathletes? How much vitamin D is enough, when should you get tested, and when, how much and what type of supplements should you take to prevent or correct a vitamin D deficiency?

Listen to Should I be taking vitamin D supplements?

Vitamin D, Immunity and Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage (Dan Owens)

Daniel reviews the history of vitamin D research, how vitamin D may impact athletic performance, variations in vitamin D status amongst athletes and different ethnicities, as well as suggestions for testing and supplementation.

Omega 3 and vitamin D for Exercise Induced Muscle Damage (Dan Owens)

A discussion of the use of Supplements for Exercise Induced Muscle Damage (EIMD): avoiding deficiencies with omega 3s and vitamin D, proactive nutritional health, considering protein and polyphenols.

Listen to Omega 3 and vitamin D for Exercise Induced Muscle Damage.

Vitamin D (Dan Owens)

What vitamin D is, why it's important for athletes, where we get it from and what's considered to be enough.

Listen to Vitamin D.

Sarcopenic obesity: nutritional and exercise interventions to improve patient outcomes (Richie Kirwan)

In this 30-minute ANHI Power of Nutrition Podcast episode, Richard Kirwan, PhD researcher, and Imogen Watson, RD, discuss sarcopenic obesity, the obesity paradox, the effects of muscle mass and cardiometabolic health in the cardiac rehabilitation population and nutrition and exercise interventions to address these conditions.

Listen to Sarcopenic obesity: nutritional and exercise interventions to improve patient outcomes.

Exploring the mechanisms and effects of Curranz (Sam Shepherd)

Sam Shepherd speaks about both the performance and the health applications of the Curranz supplement, and how Sam sees its potential for athletes and the general population alike.

Listen to Exploring the mechanisms and effects of Curranz.

Webinars

Articles

Collagen supplements may help improve the health of your tendons and bones (Rob Erskine)

Collagen supplements may have many benefits for our physical health, which could be important for enhancing athletic performance, reducing the risk of injury and improving quality of life as we get older.

Read Collagen supplements may help improve the health of your tendons and bones.

Here’s why you don’t need to feel sore after a workout to know it’s worked (Rob Erskine)

There are many reasons why your muscles might get sore after a workout. But, contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily need to feel sore in the hours or days after exercise to know you’ve had a good workout.

Read Here’s why you don’t need to feel sore after a workout to know it’s worked.

Supersets save time in the gym - which may help you reach fitness goals faster (Rob Erskine)

Resistance training is an increasingly popular way to build strength, lose weight and get in shape. But despite its many benefits, it can also be time consuming – which is why many fitness enthusiasts have started incorporating “supersets” into gym routines. When done properly, supersets have the potential to help you build strength and muscle – all while spending less time in the gym.

Read Supersets save time in the gym - which may help you reach fitness goals faster.

Resistance training: here’s why it’s so effective for weight loss (Rob Erskine)

While exercises such as running and cycling are indeed effective for reducing body fat, these activities can simultaneously decrease muscle size, leading to weaker muscles and greater perceived weight loss, as muscle is more dense than fat. But unlike endurance exercises, evidence shows resistance training not only has beneficial effects on reducing body fat, it also increases muscle size and strength.

Read Resistance training: here’s why it’s so effective for weight loss.

Muscle loss can cause a range of health problems as we age - but it can be prevented (Richie Kirwan)

Muscle mass plays a huge role in our health. So much so that sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity (the combination of low muscle mass and excess fat), and dynapenia (the loss of muscle strength) are associated with a surprisingly wide range of health conditions, from heart disease and diabetes to frailty and dementia.

Read Muscle loss can cause a range of health problems as we age - but it can be prevented.

Vitamin D and protein for muscle health (Richie Kirwan)

There is emerging evidence for the importance of vitamin D in musculoskeletal health. Therefore, ensuring adequate serum vitamin D levels is a realistic and easy strategy to improve muscle health. Vitamin D, combined with resistance exercise and adequate protein intake could help improve quality of life and reduce the risk of common, chronic diseases of ageing.

Read Vitamin D and protein for muscle health.

Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: 5 Nutrition Solutions To Support Recovery (Dan Owens)

When does exercise-induce muscle damage become so pronounced it requires specific nutrition strategies to mitigate the effects? Dr Daniel Owens talks about his research in this area and what nutrition solutions you can turn to for evidence-based recovery support.

Read Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: 5 Nutrition Solutions To Support Recovery.

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Superhero (Dan Owens)

Vitamin D, often dubbed the 'Sunshine Vitamin'. Let's dive into why it's highly beneficial for your health and performance, and some easy steps you can take to maintain your vitamin D levels year-round.

Read Vitamin D - The Sunshine Superhero.

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin (Dan Owens)

All the need-to-knows on vitamin D, its efficacy, supplementation and importance for athletes.

Read Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin.

Books

Omics Approaches to Understanding Muscle Biology (Jatin Burniston, Yi-Wen Chen)

Combines different OMICS approaches under the unifying theme of skeletal muscle physiology, comprising research, that spans all levels of biological organisation, including DNA, RNA, protein and metabolite

Omics Approaches to Understanding Muscle Biology

Molecular Exercise Physiology: An Introduction (Adam Sharples, Henning Wackerhage, James Morton, Henning Wackerhage)

Introduces a history documenting the emergence of molecular biology techniques to investigate exercise physiology, the methodology used, exercise genetics and epigenetics, and the molecular mechanisms that lead to adaptation after different types of exercise, with explicit links to outcomes in sport performance, nutrition, physical activity and clinical exercise.

Molecular Exercise Physiology: An Introduction

Muscle Growth, Repair and Preservation: A Mechanistic Approach. In: Nutrition and Enhanced Sports Performance: Recommendations for Muscle Building (2nd Edition) (Rob Erskine, Hans Degens)

Various signaling pathways within the muscle fiber appear to play a crucial role in the adaptive processes, and understanding how these pathways can be modulated will help in the designing of therapies to prevent or reverse muscle atrophy in a host of muscle-wasting conditions.

Nutrition and Enhanced Sports Performance: Recommendations for Muscle Building

The genetic association with exercise-induced muscle damage and muscle injury risk. In: Sports, Exercise, and Nutritional Genomics (Philipp Baumert, Elliott Hall, Rob Erskine)

This chapter proposes a new potential mechanical mechanism underlying skeletal muscle's maladaptation to strenuous exercise, thus providing a better understanding of the tissue-specific contribution to Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage (EIMD), exertional rhabdomyolysis and muscle strain injury.

Sports, Exercise, and Nutritional Genomics

Genetic Individuality and Alcohol Consumption. In: Principles of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics (Rosa Lamuela-Raventos, Ramón Estruch, Richard Kirwan)

The prevalence of polymorphisms related to alcohol metabolism amongst people of different geographical regions/ethnicities is of considerable interest as this may lead to distinct considerations for care practices based on an individual's genetic predisposition to the effects of alcohol.