Professor Francis Stephens

I’m fascinated by how our muscles metabolise nutrients when we are physically active and inactive, and why these processes become perturbed as we age or develop diseases such as type 2 diabetes. My PhD and post-doctoral position at The University of Nottingham highlighted for the first time the role of muscle carnitine availability in the regulation of skeletal muscle fat and carbohydrate metabolism in humans. I was then awarded a 5-year Research Councils UK (RCUK) Academic Research Fellowship in Molecular Nutrition in 2008 to investigate the molecular pathways underpinning these observations and determine how they change with age and type 2 diabetes. During this time, I was a key member of the Medical Research Council (MRC)/Arthritis Research UK (ARUK) Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. I moved to Exeter in 2016 and was promoted to Professor of Exercise Physiology and Metabolism in 2019. My muscle metabolism work has led to the development of various sports nutrition products, which I am conducting research on at present within the newly refurbished state-of-the-art Nutritional Physiology Research Unit. Together with Professor Benjamin Wall, I lead a vibrant Nutritional Physiology Group (https://sshs.exeter.ac.uk/research/integrativephysiology/nutritionalphysiology/) with several Research Fellows, post-doctoral scientists, and post-graduate students. I have authored original peer-reviewed research and review articles in international journals, and several book chapters on skeletal muscle metabolism. I have also been invited to present at numerous international nutrition and physiology conferences and have advised on sports nutrition supplementation studies for elite athletes.