Salimetrics wants to open a dialogue to encourage collaborative research and to maximise grant applications / awards in these tough and challenging economic times. It says: "We trust this will encourage the future use of saliva, minimally invasive technology."
Dr Lettie Bishop, Loughbourough University - Biography
Nicolette (Lettie) Bishop completed her first degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Birmingham in 1997 for which she was awarded the C.T.M Davies Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement.
Following this, Lettie accepted a PhD Scholarship to work with Professor Mike Gleeson investigating nutritional influences on the immune response to exercise, for which she was also awarded the Ratcliffe Prize for Postgraduate Achievement. On completion of her PhD in June 2000, Lettie joined Loughborough University as a Research Associate with the Human Muscle Metabolism Research Group.
In September 2000, Lettie became a Lecturer in Exercise Physiology and in 2007 was appointed to her current position in the School as a Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology. Her research interests lie in the effect that exercise has on cellular and mucosal immune function in addition to interactions between exercise, immune function and inflammatory responses in athletes, the general population and individuals with chronic conditions, including chronic kidney disease and spinal cord injuries.
Her recent work with chronic kidney disease patients was highly commended at the Da Vinci Health Technology awards in March 2010. Over the past 10 years she has published 50 papers on exercise immunology and is co-author on the recently published (Feb 2011)
International Society of Exercise and Immunology Position Statement on Immune function and Exercise. She is a member of the Physiological Society and the International Society of Exercise and Immunology and a member of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University. For the past 6 years Lettie has somehow juggled working 'part-time' with looking after to her two young boys - how she manages this remains a mystery to her and she knows which one leaves her the most exhausted!
Interview with Lettie
1. Can you tell us about the major themes in your research program?
Effect of exercise on the systemic and mucosal immune system and how this relates to infection risk in the athlete population and also in the general population. Role of exercise on immune function and infection risk in active and inactive individuals with chronic conditions including spinal cord injury and chronic kidney disease.
2. If you had to pick one publication in the past five years as the "best of your best", what would it be and why? In terms of saliva research, probably Leicht CA, Bishop NC & Goosey-Tolfrey, VT (2011) Mucosal immune responses to treadmill exercise in elite wheelchair athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports Exercise 43:1414-1421. This was the first paper of our work in wheelchair athletes with tetraplegia, paraplegia and those without spinal cord injury (SCI) but with other disabilities such as amputation. By far the majority of research in the area of exercise immunology has focused on able-bodied athletes and with no real attention paid to mucosal immune responses in wheelchair athletes. Some of these individuals have high level spinal cord injuries that can affect their sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and as a result, alter their mucosal immune response to exercise. However, despite missing central control, these wheelchair athletes show responses thought to be governed by the SNS, such as reductions of saliva flow rate as a result of strenuous exercise. Similarly, we have recently published data showing that chronic exercise responses in athletes with high level SCI are comparable to able-bodied athletes (Leicht et al., International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, epub Dec 2011) , as decreases in markers of immune function during periods of heavy training have been reported in both populations. It therefore appears that the loss of central control of effector organs via the SNS may be compensated in some way, perhaps via enhanced spinal reflex activity, adapted parasympathetic nervous system activity, or increased sensitivity of receptors involved in autonomic pathways.
3. How did you get interested in using saliva in your research?
During my PhD I began using saliva measurements of immune function because they reflect the level of protection against airborne pathogens, like cold viruses, more than investigations of individual circulating immune cell functions. Saliva is also easy to collect in any situation, be in in the lab, on the training field or a training camps.
4. Which salivary analtyes are you working with? We work with IgA, cortisol, alpha amylase, lactoferrin, lysozyme, testosterone and chromagranin A
5. How has working with saliva changed the direction of your research plans? Recently my work on saliva immune responses has given me the opportunity to work with colleagues at the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport here at Loughborough and through this, wheelchair athletes and non-athletes as it gives a reliable marker of mucosal immune protection in a population of people for whom respiratory infections are common . Collecting saliva has the advantage of being convenient to collect in both laboratory studies and field studies. This work has now led to collaborations with research groups working with individuals with SCI in both the Netherlands and the United States.
6. What analyte is not measured in saliva now that you would hope could be measured in the future? A reliable biomarker for autonomic nervous system activation - α-amylase is often used as a biomarker of SNS activation, even though correlation of α-amylase and sympathetic markers, such as circulating adrenaline and noradrenaline, are relatively small. We have found that amylase responses to exercise are similar between those with and those without high level SCI, despite the disruption to the SNS in those with tetraplegia so it isn't a suitable marker in this population.
7. What advice would give young investigators who might be considering working with saliva in their research? Make sure you are aware of all of the factors that can influence saliva secretion (chewing/sight/smell of food, tooth brushing, time of day, method of collection, how you report your values, e.g relative to albumin, saliva volume, etc ) before you start - there are so many factors that can affect the secretion rate and composition of the secreted saliva it is important that you make sure you control for this as much as possible,
8. Tell us something about you (a hobby or special interest) that we would be surprised to know? I am a big baking fan and enjoy making the family birthday cakes - creations to date include pirate ships with edible sails and plank, a ten-pin bowling alley, fire engines, tractor, wizard hats filled with jelly sweets... A world away from saliva collection and ELISAs!!
Tel: 01509 226385
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