Dr Nicola King
Profiles

Dr Nicola King

Lecturer in Cardiac Physiology (Education)

School of Biomedical Sciences (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)

Role

Lecturer in Cardiac Physiology

Qualifications

BSc Hons - Napier University, Edinburgh

PhD - Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Professional membership

British Society for Cardiovascular Research

Roles on external bodies

Former elected member of the executive board of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research

Teaching interests

Cardiac physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology


I am module leader for:
BHCS1008: Cardiovascular and respiratory physiology
BHCS3001: Personal Research Project
BHCS3018: Specialist cardiovascular investigations

Research interests

The main focus of my research is the role of amino acids and dipeptides in the heart. In particular I concentrate on membrane transport, hypertrophy, and myocardial protection against oxidative stress and ischaemia reperfusion. Most recently I have been investigating the expression and role of glutathione peroxidases in the kidney with ageing and remote ischaemia pre-conditioning of the heart. 

Grants & contracts

2009-2012 - The Brunei healthy heart projects: sourcing strategic Halal antioxidants. Brunei Government 1,440,000 BND


2007 - Can nurses and biomedical scientists learn and work interprofessionally? A pilot in Brunei for a comparative regional study. 1837.5 BND

2005-2007 - An investigation into the expression and activity of cysteine transporters in heart: relationship to glutathione synthesis and cardioprotection. British Heart Foundation (BHF) £126,200

2002-2004 - Amino acids and myocardial hypertrophy: expression, transport and protection. BHF Intermediate Fellowship £131,732

2002-2004 - An investigation into the expression and activity of the cystine-glutamate exchanger in relation to glutathione's role in myocardial protection. BHF £84,270

1999-2001 - An investigation into the cardioprotective action of glutamate and expression and regulation of its transporters in the heart. BHF Junior research fellowship. £66,410

1999-2001 - An investigation of the expression and regulation of glutamate and aspartate transporters in heart and their implications to myocardial protection. BHF £66,112 

Editor:

RT-PCR Protocols: 2nd Ed (2010). For the series Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer Protocols, Humana Press, New Jersey, USA. ISBN: 978-1-60761-628.3

Book Chapters:
King N. (2012) "The human body: a nutrition perspective" in Wardlaw's Nutrition. 1st Australia/New Zealand Edition. Ed GM Wardlaw and AM Smith. McGrawHill, Sydney, Australia. ISBN: 9781743071465

King N. (2007). "Amino acids and mitochondria" in Mitochondria: the dynamic organelle for the series Avances in Biochemistry in Health and Disease. Ed S Schaffer and M-S Suleiman. Springer, New York, USA. ISBN: 9780387699448

Journal articles:
Smart NA., Dieberg G., King N (2018). Long term outcomes of on- versus off- pump coronary artery bypass grafting. J Am Coll Cardiol. 71: 983-991.

Alghamdi OA., King N., Jones GL., Moens PDJ (2018). A new use of B-ala-lys (AMCA) as a transport reporter for PEPT1 and PEPT2 in renal brush border membrane vesicles from the outer cortex and outer medulla. BBA Biomembranes. 1860: 960-964.

Jewiss D., Othman C., King N., Smart NA. Clinical outcomes to exercise training in Type I Diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diab Res Clin Pract. In press.

King N (2017). Is there a long-term survival benefit with on pump CABG. Ann Transl Med. doi: 10.21037/atm.2017.10.10.

Alghamdi OA., King N., Jones GL., Moens P (2017). Kinetic measurements of di- and tripeptide andpeptidomimetic drug transport in different kidney regions using the fluorescentmembrane potential sensitive dye, DiS-C3-(3). J Memb Biol. 250: 641-649.

Daham AN., Al-Meshhadani MH., King N. (2017) Cardiac auscultation vs. two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography in the detection of native aortic and mitral valve disease in Erbil city. J Heart Cardiol. 3: 1-4.

King N. (2017) On vs. off pump coronary artery bypass grafting: the next chapter. Ann Transl Med. 5: 116-118.

Dieberg G., Smart NA., King N. (2016) On- vs. Off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Cardiol. 223:201-211.

Dieberg G., Smart NA., King N. (2016) Minimally invasive cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Cardiol. 226: 554-560.

Dieberg G., King N., McFarlane J., Smart NA. The effect of lifestyle therapy on liver function in overweight adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. In press.

King N., Dieberg G., Smart NA. (2016). Effects of pre-procedural remote ischaemic pre-conditioning on the outcomes of elective percutaneous coronary interventions. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Trials and Regulatory Science in Cardiology. 21:1-6.

King N., Van der Touw T., Spowart L., Lawlor C (2016). A scoping study investigating student perceptions towards inquiry based learning in the laboratory. Eur J Sci Math Ed. 4:304-315.

Thiab NR., King N., McMillan M., Almashhadany A., Jones GL. (2016) Age-related protein and mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidases (GPx) and Hsp-70 in different regions of rat kidney with and without stressor. AIMS Mol Sci. 3:1-X.

King N., Dieberg G., Smart NA (2016) Remote ischaemic pre-conditioning does not affect clinical outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting. IJC Clinical Trials and Regulatory Science. 17:1-8.

Almashhadany A., Shakebaei D., Van der Touw T., Jones GL., Suleiman M-S., King N (2015) Homocysteine exposure impairs myocardial resistance to ischaemia reperfusion and oxidative stress. Cell Physiol Biochem. 37:2265-2274.

Thiab NR, King N., Jones GL (2015) Effect of ageing and oxidative stress on antioxidant enzyme activity in different regions of the rat kidney. Mol Cell Biochem. 408:253-260 

Thiab NR., King N., Jones GL (2015) Effect of ageing on metabolite and oxidant concentrations in different regions of rat kidney under control and oxidative stress conditions. Mol Cell Biochem. 408:55-61.

Almashhadany A., Alghamdi OA., Van der Touw T., Jones GL., King N (2015) l-glycyl-l-glutamine provides the isolated and perfused young and middle aged rat protection against ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Amino Acids 47:1559-1565

King N., Al Shaama MA., Suleiman M-S (2012) Propofol improves recovery of the isolated working hypertrophic heart from ischaemia-reperfusion. Pflugers Arch 464:513-522

Alghamdi OA., King N (2012) Novel application of the dye, DiS-C3-(3) as a biosensor of the renal membrane potential difference. J Biosc Biochem Bioinfo 2:282-286

King N., Lin H., Suleiman M-S (2011) Oxidative stress stimulates SNAT1 expression and increases cysteine uptake into freshly isolated rat cardiomyocytes. Amino Acids 40:517-526

King N., Lin H., Suleiman M-S (2010) Cysteine protects freshly isolated cardiomyocytes against oxidative stress by stimulating glutathione peroxidase. Mol Cell Biochem 343:135-142

King N (2010) The use of comparative quantitative RT-PCR to measure the effect of cysteine incubation on GPx1 expression in isolated cardiomyocytes. Met Mol Biol 630:215-232

King N (2007) Measurement of cardiac gene expression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Met Mol Biol 366:109-119

Lin H., King N (2007) Demonstration of functional dipeptide uptake into freshly isolated guinea-pig cardiomyocytes. Pflugers Archiv 453:915-922

King N., Lin H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2006) Glutamate transporter activity in hypertrophic rat heart and ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Pflugers Arch 452:674-682

Shackebaei D., King N., Shukla B., Suleiman M-S (2005) Mechanisms underlying the cardioprotective effect of L-cysteine. Mol Cell Biochem 277:27-31

King N., Lin H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2004) Aspartate transporter activity in hypertrophic rat heart and ischaemia-reperfusion injury. J Physiol 556:849-858

King N., Korolchuk S., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2004) A new method for quantifying glutathione levels in freshly isolated single superfused rat cardiomyocytes. J Toxicol Pharmacol Met 50:215-222

King N., McGivan JD., Griffiths EJ., Halestrap., Suleiman M-S (2003) Glutamate loading protects freshly isolated and perfused adult rat cardiomyocytes from intracellular ROS generation. J Mol Cell Cardiol 35:975-984

King N., Suleiman M-S (2001) L-leucine transport in rate heart under normal conditions and effect of simulated hypoxia. Mol Cell Biochem 221:99-108

King N., Williams H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2001) Characteristics of l-aspartate transport and expression of EAAC-1 in sarcolemmal vesicles and isolated cells from rat heart. Cardiovasc Res 52:84-94

Williams H., King N., Griffiths EJ., Suleiman M-S (2001) Glutamate-loading stimulates metabolic flux and improves cell recovery following chemical hypoxia in isolated cardiomyocytes. J Mol Cell Cardiol 33:2109-2119

King N., Suleiman M-S (1998) Characteristics of l-alanine transport in cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles and into cardiac myocytes. Pflugers Arch 436:384-390

King N., Suleiman M-S (1998) A profile of taurine and alpha-amino acids in the hearts of thoroughbred horses with or without undergoing short-term exercise. Amino Acids 15:241-251

King N., Colledge WH., Ratcliff R., Evans MJ., Simmons NL (1997) The intrinsic Cl- conductance of mouse kidney cortex brush-border membrane vesicles is not related to CFTR. Pflugers Archiv 434:575-580

Brown CDA., King N., Simmons NL (1993) Coexpression of an anion conductance pathway with Na+-glucose co-transport in rat renal brush border membrane in vitro. Pflugers Archiv 423:406-410

Other publications:
King N., & Smart N (2008) Report on joint British Cardiac and British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) Conference. The Bulletin (BSCR) 21:16-20.

King N (2007) Postcard from Brunei. The Bulletin (BSCR) 20:19-22