Hosted this year in the Michael Smith building on the University of Manchester (UoM) campus, this annual event sponsored by The Physiological Society brings together researchers from UoM, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the Universities of Salford (UoS), and UA92 to collaborate and present their projects from all walks of physiology. With flash talks from 1st year PhD students to lectures from veterans of the physiology field, there were plenty of opportunities to learn about new topics and exciting progressions in the world of science.
Morning session
Our first talk was presented by Prof. Holly Shiels from UoM, describing the relationship between air pollution and the development of cardiac arrhythmias. With the majority of our focus on treatment of an already occurring arrhythmia rather than prevention, this lecture highlighted the often-unseen effects of hydrocarbons such as Phenanthrene, and detailed how the measures and guidelines we have in place for monitoring pollution need to be updated for more robust protection. One student expressed: “I was glad to see more acknowledgement of the connection between pollution and serious illness; especially reflecting on how big an impact it can have on our lives.”
The next two talks, given by Dr Fred Jones (MMU) and Dr Ilan Ruhr (UoS), brought us from the effects of the transcription factor REST on chronic pain and small cell lung cancer, to the devastating impact of Azoxystrobin, a pesticide that has been shown to cause severe toxicity to fish. These lectures exhibited the variety of topics that are underpinned by physiology, and showed how interconnected different areas of research can be, even extending beyond a purely human-focused lens of scientific research.
The last talk of this session was presented by Dr Jason Bruce (UoM), focusing on how insulin may have a role in regulating pancreatic antimicrobial secretion into the gut, and how loss of this insulin mediation may lead to impaired gut function and the development of severe acute pancreatitis. The administration of Ozempic or Mounjaro, whilst actually having the side effect of developing acute pancreatitis, may activate a protective pathway and have anti-inflammatory effects. Investigations into the dosage and mechanisms of action of these drugs could prove to be useful in preventing severe acute pancreatitis in those vulnerable.
Breaking for lunch provided us with the opportunity to talk with the guest speakers and other attendees, and to ask further questions about their research and talks. Free lunch and drinks were provided, and by this time we were surprisingly still on schedule!
Afternoon session
We kicked off the afternoon session with a series of 10-minute flash talks presented by PhD students in various years of study. Topics ranged from developments in pharmacokinetic studies for investigating drug administration via the placental barrier (Jessica Yuyao Jin, UoM) to how having ice baths on alternate days to induce ischaemic preconditioning could improve vascular function (Samuel Thomas, MMU). These talks gave a really nice insight into the standard and demands of PhD research, and I thought that every student presented their research in a fairly easy to understand manner, especially to an undergraduate like me!
The first lecture of this session, presented by Dr Alice Whitley (UoM), described how cardiac microtubules were regulators of T-tubule growth and homeostasis, and how the loss of this balance between T-tubule formation and destruction can ultimately lead to heart failure. Restoring and maintaining this balance, through the actions of microtubules, indicates a possible future therapeutic target to reverse the damage done by heart failure.
The next talk, titled “Exploration of countermeasures to stay strong in space”, was particularly fascinating, as Prof. Hans Degens (MMU) went into detail about how the anti-gravity effects of space were mimicked here on Earth, and went through some methods we could utilise to prevent muscular atrophy and a decrease in our mitochondrial fitness. The method shown below was conducted on volunteers for up to 60 days straight to imitate people’s time in space, though Prof. Degens assured us they were paid well for their time.
The final talk of this session detailed maternal microvascular dysfunction in pre-eclampsia, and was presented by Dr Luisa Parnell (UoM). Pre-eclampsia is a condition where maternal blood pressure rises to dangerous levels, and currently the only treatment is to deliver the baby and the placenta, often prematurely. Research into this area is sorely needed, as this condition affects 2-8% of pregnancies worldwide, and poses a serious threat to both the mother’s and baby’s health. Dr Parnell outlined new possible targets to restore appropriate vasodilation and return the maternal blood pressure to more normal levels, which marks an interesting direction for new research to take.
Keynote lecture
The keynote lecture, presented by Prof. Harry Witchel from Brighton and Sussex University Medical School, was titled “The story of how the vital science undergirds medical sciences.”
Dr Witchel set the scene of a dark and stormy night, 200 years ago, when Mary Shelley first had the idea of Frankenstein. He began with the notion that “Frankenstein was obsessed with the difference between life and death,” and noted that we as modern scientists aren’t all that dissimilar. We were taken through a short history of the evolution of physiology: touching on some of the genetic studies conducted on Mormon communities, and later detailing the complexities of diagnosing various heart conditions.
An interesting and rather topical point was made regarding our potential overreliance on Artificial Intelligence to diagnose and interpret ECG readings. A fairly recent development in the world of AI is its ability to detect breast cancer, and it has been shown to identify some cancers that even trained radiologists have missed. This is, of course, a positive function of AI, and shows that even with the current conjecture about the use of generative AI, not all types of AI should be vilified and condemned.
However, a recent study showed that AI interpretations of ECG readings were less accurate than trained doctors, and a mistake like this can be crucial for a patient’s well-being. This highlighted that AI can make mistakes, and that perhaps we shouldn’t be blindly putting our faith and our health in its hands.
The key message of his lecture, and of the entire symposium in my opinion, was that: “Physiology still sets the scene for many medical advances.” This knock-on effect of a drive to do some good and a powerful imagination has been the basis for a vast number of accomplishments and significant changes in our approaches to healthcare. The further development of research relies on this determination, and it’s certainly not something the new generation of scientists should lose.
Closing thoughts
Even though these lectures were about various PhD-level topics, I didn’t feel that the talks were too out of my depth to understand. Each lecture highlighted a very particular, but important, issue, and impressed that the research being done around Manchester is tackling vital topics that will hopefully help everyone in the near future.
An attending student agreed: “I liked the range of topics that were talked about, it really was an insightful experience, considering I hadn’t learnt about a lot of these subjects before.” I only wish that we had more time to talk about some of the subjects and issues brought up: maybe next year!
I’d like to thank the organisers for the invitation, the guest speakers for giving such wonderful and interesting talks, and the Physiological Society for funding this event.
The Physiological Society offers membership to Undergraduate and Master’s students, providing access to a large network of physiologists as well as grants and support in order to assist in their studies.
