About
I have worked in Professor Shirazi-Beechey's laboratory for the past 19 years, focusing on comparative intestinal physiology. My primary interests are digestive and absorptive processes related to sugar and amino acid absorption, as well as nutrient sensing in the intestine. My work has involved a variety of mammalian species and various fish species, focusing on gene expression studies related to intestinal disease, dietary supplementation (including artificial sweeteners), dietary manipulation, and the regulation of nutrient transporters.
In my current project, I am assessing how a bovine heterologous expression system responds to nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners.
I have previously investigated fish gut digestive and absorptive processes during development and in response to dietary change. This project was an industry-funded initiative focused on the gut responses of farmed fish, such as rainbow trout and common carp, to changes in dietary composition. The experimental fish species, zebrafish, was also used to investigate the regulatory processes involved in these responses. I have also been involved in a project investigating the effect of artificial sweetener supplementation on the composition of the swine gut microbiota.
Prizes or Honours
- Molecular Mechanisms Signaling - Best Researcher Award (Cell Biologist, 2025)