The first of a few very cool papers to come from @padraig-spillane.bsky.social’s PhD. Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is evident across the menstrual cycle, but potentiated in the luteal phase 🧠

Padraig Spillane@padraig-spillane.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Preprint is up for the first of my PhD studies on the menstrual cycle and its effects on cortical excitability and neuroplasticty. Feedback welcome! @paul-ansdell.bsky.social @nuneurofunc.bsky.social @elisanedelec.bsky.social @stuart-goodall.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The preprint of our latest sex differences research is now online: “Sex differences in durability following heavy intensity cycling exercise in trained athletes” The result of a very fun collaboration between research groups with similar interests! 🇮🇹🇬🇧 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sex differences in durability following heavy intensity cycling exercise in trained athletes

The ability to withstand impairments in key physiological variables during prolonged exercise, known as durability, is emerging as an important factor in cycling performance. While females possess phy...

biorxiv.org

We get some outstanding project students in our department. Exhibit A was Lorna Crawford, who led this paper on menstrual cycle tracking in elite, yet non-professional athletes as part of her MSc degree. Message for the PDF if you can’t access! journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...

Had a brilliant week at @ecssofficial.bsky.social. Four talks from our group about our latest work 🧠🚴‍♀️💪 Also great to catch up with friends and colleagues from all over. Already looking forward to next year🇨🇭 @padraig-spillane.bsky.social @elisanedelec.bsky.social @nuneurofunc.bsky.social

First up from our group at @northumbriauni.bsky.social is Elisa Pastorio discussing Sex differences in durability during cycling exercise at @ecssofficial.bsky.social in Rimini, Italy 🇮🇹

Excited to have presented some early data from our wider collaborative project @ecssofficial.bsky.social More to come! @nuneurofunc.bsky.social @northumbriauni.bsky.social

The UK Sensorimotor Conference is always one of my favourites, and this year in Oxford was particularly enjoyable. Presenting our group’s work on reaction time, movement speed and accuracy changes across the menstrual cycle 🧠

Northumbria University Neuromuscular Function@nuneurofunc.bsky.social · last yr.

@paul-ansdell.bsky.social and Luca Angius, PI's in our group presenting their work to interested parties at the UK Sensorimotor Conference in Oxford #AcademicSky

Chronic resistance and endurance training alters the way in which motor unit discharge rates are modulated across contraction intensities, suggesting alterations in net excitatory synaptic input - another fun collaboration with @jskarabot.bsky.social and colleagues. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Come and join us - permanent Research Fellow position available from Assistant to Full Professor. Anyone interested in neuromuscular physiology or women’s health feel free to message me! work4.northumbria.ac.uk#en/sites/CX_...

Now published in AJP 🎉 journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

The effect of sex on the cardiopulmonary and neuromuscular response to high-intensity interval exercise | American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology | American P...

Sex differences exist in the integrative response to exercise, however, these are typically researched during incremental and constant-load exercise. Interval exercise involves high intensity efforts ...

journals.physiology.org

Paul Ansdell@paul-ansdell.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our group’s latest work on sex differences during high-intensity interval exercise 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Had a great time at the Women's Nutrition and Physiology symposium at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social today. Some fascinating talks and discussions througout the day. I also enjoyed presenting a poster of some data from my first PhD study on neurophysiology across the menstrual cycle

This is probably doable. journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Seven (.65) Seconds Away: The Possibility and Physiology of a Women’s Sub-4 Minute Mile | Journal of Applied Physiology | American Physiological Society

journals.physiology.org

Exciting two-year postdoc position available in neuromuscular physiology! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DML152/r...

Research Associate in Neurophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at Loughborough University

Apply now for the Research Associate in Neurophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

jobs.ac.uk

www.mssociety.org.uk/research/lat...

A spotlight on our women’s health research

Women are two and a half times more likely to get MS than men. And it has different implications for women. Yet historically, women’s health wasn’t the focus of much MS research. So there’s lots we st...

mssociety.org.uk

Enjoyed having Dr Emma Cowley and Dr Kelly McNulty present their ‘Invisible Sportswomen’ research at our department seminar today. I forgot to take a photo, so go and read their latest paper instead! journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...

A.V. Hill was a hero, a genius, and the most upright person Bernard Katz ever met. He helped bring exercise physiology into being. Here’s our review of that story, published in @jphysiol.bsky.social. physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Blue plaque review series: A.V. Hill, athletic records and the birth of exercise physiology

Abstract figure legend Depiction of the world running records from 1925 studied by A. V. Hill and those of 2025 up to and including ultradistance events on a semi-logarithmic plot. These records, in ...

physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Our latest preprint, using startling acoustic stimuli in combination with neurostimulation to better understand the neural mechanisms of fatigue 🧠

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 2y ago

Corticospinal, reticulospinal, and motoneuronal contributions to fatigability during a sustained contraction of the elbow flexors https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.17.637601v1

@physoc.bsky.social has a starter pack of physiologists. Hooray!! go.bsky.app/2KU1XD6

Northumbria University is one of four regional universities to receive £6m funding from UKRI's BBSRC to support the next generation of doctoral-level bioscientists. Find out more or get in touch: www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/new...

Read the study protocol for our interdisciplinary research into female veteran brain health - more to follow! 🧠 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Two very enjoyable days at #BBEP2024 thank you to the @physoc.bsky.social for putting on a great event! Here supporting Elisa Pastorio, who presented our collaborative work on sex differences in durability 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️

A recap of some recent work we’ve been involved with, led by @profmarkfaghy.bsky.social and the team at Derby. www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/new...

Long COVID research team wins global award

Northumbria University academics are part of a research team looking into the effects of Long Covid which has won a global award from Nature.

northumbria.ac.uk

well I for one can't see this having *any* negative impacts when the next generation of PhD students start getting lectureships. it's a good job teaching is an instinctual skill that requires no experience </facepalm>

Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 2y ago

Teaching opportunities for PhDs dry up in university cash crisis Barely one in three postgraduate researchers now have opportunity to teach, finds Advance HE survey, with financial pressure on institutions likely to blame #EduSky #AcademicSky #Highered

Ok, now that we are all here … *please share* this invite to IMRF in our beautiful Durham 2025! Abstracts open in Jan. imrf2025.sciencesconf.org @meike-scheller.bsky.social @markonardini.bsky.social

A really timely series of articles. “The ethics of menstrual tracking applications” is particularly relevant to our recent experiences implementing this with elite sportswomen and future plans to do so in women with MS. www.nature.com/collections/...

Menstruation Matters

Menstruation is part of human life, yet we hide it behind stigma and taboos. In this Focus, our authors discuss why menstruation matters. Tackling significant ...

nature.com

go.bsky.app/SDz3NC4

Our group’s latest work on sex differences during high-intensity interval exercise 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sex differences in the cardiopulmonary and neuromuscular response to high-intensity interval exercise

Sex differences exist in the integrative response to exercise, however, these are typically researched during constant-load exercise. Interval exercise involves high-intensity efforts interspersed wit...

biorxiv.org