Jack David Beazer

Contact Details

Email

 j.beazer.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Address

Room 214; Lab 205
Sir James Black Building
Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ

 

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6978-3072

Research title: The effect of Insulin resistance on HDL composition and function

Research Summary

About my research

I am interested in the effect of insulin resistance on the ability of HDL (so called "good cholesterol") to protect our blood vessels from cardiovascular disease. People with lower concentrations of good cholesterol are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, though therapies aimed at increasing HDL have been shown to be ineffective. As such, the focus has shifted towards the composition and function of HDL in health and disease.

This is particularly important in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, as they have a much increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease mediated in part by impaired HDL function. In recent years it has been demonstrated that weight loss and improved diet can reverse type 2 diabetes (i.e reducing insulin resistance) - my research seeks to understand whether good cholesterol plays a role in this and whether diet and exercise can improve good cholesterol's protective functions on our blood vessels.

I am also interested in extracellular vesicles (EVs), as methods used to isolate HDL from blood also co-isolate EVs. These small vesicles are secreted from all cell types and are involved in cell to cell communication. I am interested in understanding the contribution of this EV fraction in isolated HDL on HDL function, given the risk of confounding EVs in experiments designed to understand HDL function.

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Supervisors

Conference

Conferences attended

  • Diabetes UK Professional Conference - Online, 19 - 30 April 2021
    Poster presented entitled "Glycation of proteins differs between age and body mass index matched healthy, risk factor and gestational diabetes pregnancies". Poster 65, available in: https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.19_14556.
  • Maternal Obesity and Preeclampsia: Common pathways - Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
    5 - 6 November 2019
    Poster presented entitled "High-density lipoprotein composition is unchanged in gestational diabetes mellitus pregnancies compared to healthy pregnancies".


Teaching

Teaching posts

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant in ICAMS Masters degree programs, demonstrating in lab skills laboratory sessions and chairing journal clubs. Responsible for marking formative and summative assessments.

Additional Information

Funding

My work is funded by a British Heart Foundation 4-year PhD Studentship.