Dr BRENDAN GABRIEL

Dr BRENDAN GABRIEL
Dr BRENDAN GABRIEL
Dr BRENDAN GABRIEL

PhD

Advanced Research Fellow

Accepting PhDs

About
Email Address
brendan.gabriel1@abdn.ac.uk
Office Address

Office 5.045, The Rowett Institute, 

The University of Aberdeen,

Ashgrove Rd W, Aberdeen,

AB25 2ZD

 

Tel:  00447741900963

School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition

Biography

Overview 

My research primarily focuses on the role of skeletal muscle in disease pathology, taking into account the principles of chronobiology. In addition, I investigate the potential of physical activity as a treatment or preventative intervention in metabolic disease, considering the influence of circadian rhythms on skeletal muscle metabolism.

My Research Vision

I aim to drive improvements in metabolic disease treatment and prevention by conducting ambitious, multimodal research in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Appointments 

2020: Research Fellow in Cardiovascular and Diabetes Science, The Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen.

2019-2020: Research Fellow, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh.

2015-2019: Research Fellow, Institute for Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute.

2015-2016: Visiting Fellow, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen.  

2010-2015: PhD, Institute of Medical Science, University of Aberdeen.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships
  • Aberdeen Cardiovascular and Diabetes Centre 
  • The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, Ethics Committee Panel Member, 2020-ongoing
  • Rowett Seminar Series Organiser, 2021-ongoing
  • Go Abroad Lead Tutor for SMMSN 2023-ongoing 
External Memberships
  • Affiliated Researcher, FYFA | 171 77 Stockholm | Von Eulers Väg 4a, Karolinska Institutet

         brendan.gabriel@ki.se | ki.se/en/people/bregab

  • The Research Foundation of Flanders (FWO) - Review College panel 2024-2026.
  • UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 21 Response Mode 3, Ad-hoc reviewer
  • Swiss Foundation for Research on Muscle Diseases, Ad-hoc reviewer
  • Diabetes Wellness Sverige, Ad-hoc reviewer
  • The Physiological Society, Symposium organiser, Newcastle, UK, 2024
  • Scandinavian Physiological Society, Special Interest Group organising committee member, Newcastle, UK, 2024
  • Nutrition Society – Circadian Rhythms in Health and Disease, Aberdeen, UK co-organiser, 2024

Prizes and Awards

  • Innovator in Diabetes (IDia), Diabetes UK (2020)
  • European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD)/Lilly - Young Investigator Research Award (2020)
Research

Research Overview

Overview 

My research primarily focuses on the role of skeletal muscle in disease pathology, taking into account the principles of chronobiology. In addition, I investigate the potential of physical activity as a treatment or preventative intervention in metabolic disease, considering the influence of circadian rhythms on skeletal muscle metabolism.

My Research Vision 

I aim to drive improvements in metabolic disease treatment and prevention by conducting ambitious, multimodal research in a supportive and inclusive environment. 

Brendan Gabriel and team presenting data at a conference

Our team presented data at Physiology 2023 in the spa town of Harrogate. Both PhD students presented talks at the conference. 

 

image of hiking group near Balmoral castle

The Rowett Institute Hiking Group participate in physical activity near Balmoral Castle in beautiful Aberdeenshire

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Biomedical Sciences, Applied Health Sciences, Nutrition and Health.


Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Email Me

Biomedical Sciences

Supervising
Accepting PhDs

Applied Health Sciences

Accepting PhDs

Nutrition and Health

Accepting PhDs

Research Specialisms

  • Exercise for Health
  • Diabetes
  • Metabolic Biochemistry

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Identifying novel skeletal muscle targets for obesity treatment and prevention.

Skeletal muscle is important in the pathology of obesity and other metabolic diseases as it is the major postprandial glucose depot and oxidises a large proportion of postprandial lipids. Approximately 40% of the human body is comprised of skeletal muscle, which contributes the largest quantitative component of energy expenditure in the body. Notably, the muscle of obese individuals may be energetically impaired in comparison to non-obese individuals. One of my core projects, uses data generated from a polygenic mouse model, alongside human validation to identify new targets which are causal for obesity. Several factors contribute to obesity development including a genetic predisposition. However, there are thought to be many, as yet, unidentified or uncharacterised inherited traits involved in obesity development. Ultimately, discovery and characterisation of these inherited traits could lead to more targeted treatments for obesity. Data generated from this project could steer future research regarding more personalised treatment/preventative interventions. This research is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Using chrono-medicine to optimise concomitant metformin and exercise prescription.

Additionally, skeletal muscle is a highly plastic tissue which responds beneficially to exercise training. Indeed, exercise may be one of the most potent clinical interventions in this tissue. People with Type II Diabetes (T2D) are often prescribed metformin and encouraged to engage in regular physical activity. However, many people with T2D do not meet the recommended physical activity guidelines and report more relapse from physical activity than the general population. Recent studies suggest that although metformin is an effective treatment strategy of T2D, patients undergoing this treatment may have an ablated beneficial response to exercise. Our recent work has shown disturbances in the intrinsic rhythmicity of circadian metabolism in skeletal muscle of people with T2D. These results underscore the need to consider approaches in chrono-medicine when prescribing pharmacological therapy for T2D. With this in mind, this parallel project aims to test the hypothesis that metformin interferes with exercise induced signal transduction in skeletal muscle. Additionally, we aim to test whether timed treatment can improve the beneficial effects of these combined therapies. This project is funded by the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD).

Contraction increases calcium influx, resulting in binding of the phosphorylated form of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) to the Per2 promoter and a ‘re-setting’ of Per2 mRNA rhythmic expression (Small et al. 2020). Metformin, type 2 diabetes, exercise and ageing can all act to modulate calcium metabolism and mitochondrial function (Short et al. 2005; Weisleder & Ma, 2008; Eshima et al. 2014; Loubiere et al. 2017). Glucose metabolism is altered in response to exercise at different times of day (Savikj et al. 2019), and this may also play a role in molecular circadian rhythm regulation, given the role of cellular glucose metabolism in regulating non-transcriptional rhythmic processes (Ch et al. 2021). Dashed lines indicate speculated effects, continuous lines represent interactions with more evidence.

A schematic diagram of the speculated interactions between type 2 diabetes and skeletal muscle Zeitgebers

 Contraction increases calcium influx, resulting in binding of the phosphorylated form of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) to the Per2 promoter and a ‘re-setting’ of Per2 mRNA rhythmic expression (Small et al. 2020). Metformin, type 2 diabetes, exercise and ageing can all act to modulate calcium metabolism and mitochondrial function (Short et al. 2005; Weisleder & Ma, 2008; Eshima et al. 2014; Loubiere et al. 2017). Glucose metabolism is altered in response to exercise at different times of day (Savikj et al. 2019), and this may also play a role in molecular circadian rhythm regulation, given the role of cellular glucose metabolism in regulating non-transcriptional rhythmic processes (Ch et al. 2021). Dashed lines indicate speculated effects, continuous lines represent interactions with more evidence. Image and legend from Gabriel & Zierath (2021, The Journal of Physiology)

 

Symposia 

several images of the physiology 2023 conference

a picture of a scientific presentation from physiology 2023 conference

  • Our team presented data at Physiology 2023 in the spa town of Harrogate. Both PhD students presented talks at the conference. 

It was a pleasure to share the work of our lab and my previous work at the

  • American Diabetes Association’s 82nd Scientific Sessions, June 3-7 2022, in New Orleans, LA, USA

And the

  • EASO’s 29th annual European Congress on Obesity, 4-7 May 2022, Maastricht, Netherlands.

You can still access my talks if you were a registered delegate at either conference.

FUct9S6X0AcUeeY.jpg

pics .jpg

Knowledge Exchange

Bucksburn Academy Sleep Project

December 2023- It was a pleasure to speak to high school students at Bucksburn Academy about Sleep and Circadian rhythms for their research project this term! 

Dr Gabriel gives a tutorial to high school students

 

 

Image of scientists at the outreach event celebrating the centenary of the discovery of insulin

Centenary of discovery of insulin event - Aberdeen Science Centre 2021

A group of scientists from the University of Aberdeen and I conducted 2 weekend events to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of insulin in collaboration with the Aberdeen Science Centre and TechFest. I received funding from The Physiological Society to conduct a bespoke event to demonstrate the latest glucose monitoring technology to the public. Most of the volunteers are also STEM Ambassadors. 

 You can hear me discuss the centenary of discovery of insulin in this podcast: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH92giTvjBc&ab_channel=TechFestAberdeen

Men's Fitness 2021 - When is the best time to work out? 

I contributed to an article in Men's Fitness, you can read it here:

https://mensfitness.co.uk/fitness/when-is-the-best-time-to-work-out/ 

 

 

 

 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Biomedical Sciences.

Current 

71e7aff2-2a07-4c20-93cf-43f780ff3f2a.jpg

Rashmi Siva Sengh - PhD Student (2022-2025)

Rashmi is an Elphinstone Scholarship supported PhD student in my lab with co-supervision by Prof Mirela Delibegovic. Rashmi is working on a project identifying novel skeletal muscle targets within the aetiologies of obesity and diabetes

An image of Brenda Pena Carrillo

Brenda Pena Carrillo -  PhD student (2021-2025)

Brenda is a Mexican CONACyT scholarship funded PhD student in my lab with co-supervision by Dr Nimesh Mody, and Prof Mirela Delibegovic. Brenda is working on the interaction between metformin, exercise and skeletal muscle metabolism. 

photo of Lara Dasar

Lara Dasar - PhD Student (2024-2028)

Lara is an EASTBIO funded PhD student. Her research focusses on the timing of exercise, health outcomes and the influence of the menstrual cycle. 

portrait photo of Sati Gurel

Sati Gürel - Visiting PhD student (2024)

Sati is a visiting PhD student from Gazi University in Turkey supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. Subsequently, she will return to complete her doctoral studies. 

 

  • I also supervise annual MSc & BSc projects

 

Previous 

an image of Bastian working in a lab

Bastian Duquesne - Hotstart Summer Student (June-August 2023) 

Bastian completed his HotStart summer studentship with me and will now go on to complete his BSc degree at the University of Aberdeen. 

F Alapy potrait photo

Flora Alapy - EASTBIO Research Experience Intern (June-August 2022)

Flora is an EASTBIO funded Widening Participation Research Experience Placement intern. She will go on to complete her BSc degree at the University of Aberdeen. 

 

portrait photo of Rebecka Bornhall

Rebecka Bornhall - Summer studentship (June-August 2022)

Rebecka is a BSc (Hons) Mathematical Biology student who has just finished her second year at the University of Dundee. She joined the team for the months of June and July to strengthen her skills in data analysis. She has gone on to finish her studies at the University of Dundee

 

a portrait photo of Nadine Sommer in the lab

Nadine Sommer - Research Assistant (May-July, 2021)

Nadine worked on a short-term project funded by the Scottish Funding Council in summer 2021 before moving to Dr Justin Rochford's lab to begin a PhD within the University of Aberdeen. 

 

Louis Kimanzi - Summer vacation student (May-July, 2021)

Louis worked on a project as a summer vacation student funded by The Physiological Society. He subsequently went on to complete his undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh.

 

portrait photo of Emily Cope

Emily Cope - MSc student and volunteer (May-December, 2021) 

Emily completed her MSc thesis project in my lab after which she continued to volunteer on a part-time basis. She went on to start a fully-funded MRes with Dr Dawn Thompson at the University of Aberdeen.

Supervisees

  • MISS BRENDA PEÑA CARRILLO
  • MRS RASHMI SIVASENGH

Funding and Grants

EASTBIO (BBSRC) DTP PhD Studentship [PI] (2024-2028), £94,368

British Heart Foundation, Non-clinical PhD Studentship [Co-I] (2023-2027), £115,309

Tenovus Scotland Pilot Research Grant [PI] (2022-2023), £12,000

Mexican CONNACyT PhD scholarship [PI] (2021-2025)

Novo Nordisk Foundation - Postdoc Fellowship [PI] - NNF19OC0055072 (2020-2024), ~£460,000

European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD)/Lilly - Young Investigator Research Award Programme [PI] (2020-2022), €50,000

NHS Grampian Endowment Fund - Research Grant [PI] (2021), £12,000

Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Covid-19 grant extension fund (Internal) [PI] (2021), £12,000

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

MSc Human Nutrition - Molecular Nutrition (RN5502)*

MSc Diabetes and Metabolism (BM5502)

BSc Sport & Exercise Science - Nutrition, Obesity and Metabolic Health (SR4008)

MBChB Medicine - Year 1 SSC (ME2511)

Advanced Research Project (PU5045)

Biomedical Sciences Honours project (BM4501)

Fundamentals of Human Nutrition and Metabolism (RN5001)

*Course Co-ordinator 

Publications

Page 1 of 3 Results 1 to 10 of 29

Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 results per page

Refine

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Journals

Working Papers