Harvey Neiland
I am joining Dr Andreas Goebel’s lab as a part-time laboratory technician and part-time PhD student. As a lab technician, I will be purifying IgG from serum collected from patients with a range of chronic pain related diseases- which will be used across our collaborating universities around the world. As a PhD student, I will looking at how IgG antibodies isolated from CRPS patients bind and sensitise the sensory neurons from the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) of mice. This will allow us to further our understanding of the ‘autoimmune’ involvement in CRPS development- an idea brought to light by previous research within Dr Goebel’s lab.
I started my studies in the University of Liverpool when I carried out a BSc in Anatomy and Human Biology. In this degree I developed an interest for the process of deterioration of health with age and wanted to help further the understanding of this process through research. This led me to do my MRes in Musculoskeletal Ageing with Professor Anne McArdle as my supervisor. I carried on my research within the Anne McArdle/Malcolm Jackson lab as a lab technician. My area of research started as inflammatory profiles of skeletal muscle, compared young muscle to aged-muscle. Subsequently, my research followed the rapidly expanding area of research looking at the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on skeletal muscle.
I am moving from the research area of musculoskeletal ageing to pain research. Chronic pain is another serious health issue that comes with age, with little understanding of the process currently in the literature. I am therefore grateful for the opportunity to work with Andreas and his lab to expand the knowledge in this area.