We are thrilled that Sara Raza will be joining us for her PhD as part of the YBDTP. Her project will be on CO and metabolism, and is a collaboration between us, Dr Daniel Kelly (SHU) and Prof Alexander Fletcher (University of Sheffield). We look forward to Sara starting her PhD this autumn.
Members of the group have attended and presented at several conferences and seminars over the year.
The group hosted the CORT April lecture, with presentations from the team as well as collaborators at SHU (Drs Ines Ramos-Harrison and Samrein Ahmed). Similarly, at the annual CO Research Trust conference, held in Birmingham (UK), we had several members attending, with all members of the group presenting, either as flash talks or longer presentations.
Mari presented our most recent paper on CO exposure in pregnant women in the UK to stakeholders from DHSC, UKHSA and NHS England at a parliamentary symposium in Westminster, and Duncan and Tryphine presented ongoing research in invited talks to the NCOAA safety summit (Biloxi, USA) in the CORT Research Spotlight: New Frontiers in CO Science and Public Education segment.
To round off the year, Mari delivered an Early Career Focus talk at the Northern Vascular Biology meeting in December.
We are excited to have a new paper out, on CO exposure in pregnant women in the UK, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. The paper is the result of a collaboration with Improving Performance in Practice, and results from the paper were presented in a seminar with attendees from DHSC, UKHSA and NHS England.
Tryphine won the Chris Bielby Summer Studentship with a research project on CO outreach strategies in a younger demographic. The project, titled "Invisible threat calls for visible change" marks a new research strand for the group, and was conducted in collaboration with Dr Julie Connolly (Liverpool John Moores).
Edit: The final report for her work can be found here.
Members of the group have attended and presented at several conferences and seminars over the year.
At the annual CO Research Trust conference, held in Birmingham (UK), we had several members attending, and Josh was leading on publicising the new CO Research Network (CORN). This is part of his PhD work, which is undertaken in collaboration with CORT, and an important part in bringing the CO research community together.
Mari presented ongoing research in an invited, recorded talk to the NCOAA safety summit (Kansas, USA). The talk was focused on CO and disease development and spanned both animal models and cell models. She also presented our most recent paper in a panel at BioMedEng2024, held at Queen Mary University (London), and analysis of work done in collaboration with Improving Performance in Pratice (IPIP) to their stakeholders (leading to collaboration on an upcoming manuscript (in preparation for submission) in March)
We furthermore had the pleasure of attending and presenting at a collaborative meeting in Leeds earlier in the year, as well as hosting CORT at a seminar at SHU in November. In the November seminar, most members of the lab, including new members and MSc students, presented their ongoing work.
We'd like to welcome new members in the group:
We are delighted to have Dr Duncan Garner join the group as a Research Fellow, working on the impact of CO on the developing brain. He has extensive experience in the use of model organisms and will be using an avian model as well as cell models for his research.
Megan Hird is a new PhD student working on the impact of CO on the adult brain, using both cell lines and a human model in her work. She has previously worked extensively on CO impact on health, and we are thrilled to have her join us for her PhD.
Tryphine Gumbo and Tabitha Stutely have joined us as MSci students, both working on various aspects of CO on health for this academic year. Tryphine has done previous work on CO, which led to her presenting her undergraduate work at an external conference, and her research will expand upon existing work in our group. Tabitha is co-supervised by Dr Ines Ramos-Harrington on a really exciting new arm for CO research, which to our knowledge has not been explored before.
We have a new paper accepted, titled "Carbon monoxide affects early cardiac development in an avian model" in Birth Defects Research.
The full paper is still in press, and describes how low-level carbon monoxide can change how the heart of the embryo develops, causing remodelling of the ventricular wall, atrial wall and ventricular septum.
Carbon monoxide levels in this study was 4ppm, 9ppm and 18ppm, all of which are well within exposure levels that people can have on a daily basis, albeit briefly, just by walking next to a busy road.
The work was supported by the Erasmus programme, the CO Research Trust and Kane Ltd.
We welcome two new members to the group this month.
Dr Elsie Place is a Research Fellow and will be working on the impact of carbon monoxide on the developing brain. Dr Place comes to us from the Placzek lab at the University of Sheffield, and is a highly experienced researcher. We are thrilled to have her on board for this project. Her post is funded by the CO Research Trust.
Our new PhD student, Josh Durrans, have started his work in the lab this week. He'll be working on low-level carbon monoxide impact on the developing heart for his thesis, and his supervisory team consists of Dr Mari Herigstad, Dr Prachi Stafford, Dr Liam Ridge and Prof Marysia Placzek. His post is co-sponsored between the Sheffield Hallam University Transforming Lives scheme and the CO Research Trust, and we are particularly pleased to be partnering with the latter to offer Josh training in policy development, networking and impact.