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Professor John Speakman

Research Interests

Research focuses on four major themes all of which are based on the causes and consequences of variations in energy expenditure of animals and man. The first theme is obesity research and establishing the genetic factors that underpin variations in the components of energy balance. This approach is using classical QTL mapping in addition to screening of gene expression profiles in the hypothalamus of animals under different treatments affecting their body mass (particularly photoperiod manipulations).

The second theme is ageing research and performing tests of the free-radical theory of ageing, which postulates that physiological attrition and age related declines in performance are intimately linked with the free-radical damage caused by reactive oxygen species generated as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Our work in this area is exploring the stress responses of animals to imposed energy demands - including screening gene expression of stress genes using microarrays.

The third area on which work is focussed is understanding the limits to animal performance in terms of their maximal daily energy demands and the implications of these limits for individual life history decisions and hence animal ecology at the population level. In particular this work aims to establish underlying physiological principles that generate life-history trade-offs.
Finally research is also progressing towards understanding the energy demands and efficiency of vertebrate flight.

Highlighted Publications

Scantlebury M, Speakman JR, Oosthuizen MK, Roper TJ, Bennett NC. Energetics reveals physiologically distinct castes in a eusocial mammal. Nature. 2006 Apr 6;440(7085):795-7.

Krol E, Duncan JS, Redman P, Morgan PJ, Mercer JG, Speakman JR. Photoperiod regulates leptin sensitivity in field voles, Microtus agrestis. J Comp Physiol [B]. 2006 Feb;176(2):153-63. Epub 2005 Oct 27.

Judge S, Jang YM, Smith A, Selman C, Phillips T, Speakman JR, Hagen T, Leeuwenburgh C. Exercise by lifelong voluntary wheel running reduces subsarcolemmal and interfibrillar mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide production in the heart. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2005 Dec;289(6):R1564-72.

Speakman JR. The role of technology in the past and future development of the doubly labelled water method. Isotopes Environ Health Stud. 2005 Dec;41(4):335-43.

Hambly C, Speakman JR. Contribution of different mechanisms to compensation for energy restriction in the mouse. Obes Res. 2005 Sep;13(9):1548-57.

Humphries MM, Thomas DW, Speakman JR. Climate-mediated energetic constraints on the distribution of hibernating mammals. Nature. 2002 Jul 18;418(6895):313-6.

Speakman JR, Racey PA. No cost of echolocation for bats in flight. Nature. 1991 Apr 4;350(6317):421-3.