I’m a junior doctor with a background in computational neuroscience.
My PhD is in using new forms of multi-electrode electromyography(EMG) as well as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to understand the structure and function of ageing muscle and nerves. This is important because as we all grow older, we lose muscle strength (sarcopenia), and this strength loss affects us all differently.
In doing this research, I hope to be able to better target, treat, and prevent sarcopenia.
Neurophysiology of age-related muscle weakness.
August 2018 – Detecting neuromuscular changes in ageing muscle using multi-electrode EMG- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University.
November 2018 – NIHR Newcastle BRC showcase event.
March 2019 – Multi-electrode EMG imaging- towards understanding age-related muscle disease, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University.
April 2019 – Clinical academic careers in neuroscience, Undergraduate Neurology Conference.
June 2019 – Micro-EMG: Imaging human motor units using a novel intramuscular electrode array- European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology: oral presentation.
July 2019 – Health Education England North East, “Clinical Informatics: The Future and Your Practice”, organising committee.
June 2019 – Young Researcher Travel Bursary Award (€500), European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology.
June 2019 – Best Presentation Award, European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology.
A lot of work has previously gone into increases in lifespan- as doctors we have become very good at prolonging life, but this hasn’t been matched by increasing healthspan- the duration of our lives spent independent and with good quality of life. Ageing research provides a way for healthspan to catch up with lifespan, and insights into how the human body functions throughout our lives.
I completed my medical degree at Newcastle University. I took time out during this to complete an intercalated MSc in Neuroinformatics & Computational Neuroscience, which really helped me develop the tools in terms of computer science and neuroscience. After graduating, I worked as an Academic Foundation Doctor at the Newcastle Hospitals. This not only enabled me to train in a research focused hospital, but also 1/3 of my time was dedicated to research. It was during this time that I worked on signal processing towards developing new forms of EMG, which was the pilot data that I used in applying for my PhD, which I started my PhD just after Foundation Programme.
I travelled to Poland to present my work on a new form of signal processing at the European Congress for Clinical Neurophysiology. I was awarded best presentation for my work and met some of the original researchers in electromyography.
There’s a great phrase in Newcastle: ‘Shy bairns get nowt’. There’s been many opportunities that I thought that I wouldn’t stand a chance of getting, but I’ve put in a good application anyway. Even when you’re knocked back (which happens a lot), you learn a lot about what makes a good application, it gets your name out there, and if you do succeed then it makes it all worthwhile!
