Dr Breen is affiliated to the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at UoB, who achieved an ‘outstanding’ score in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework assessment, with 90% of research ranked as world-leading/internationally excellent.
Prior to joining UoB in 2013, Dr Breen completed his PhD training at UoB in 2010 under the supervision of experts in the field of Exercise Metabolism. In 2011, Dr Breen received a Young Investigator of the Year Award at the European Congress for Sports Sciences (ECSS) for work involving stable isotope tracers to study muscle protein metabolism in exercising humans. Subsequently, Dr Breen undertook a post-doctoral fellowship in the internationally distinguished laboratory of Prof Stuart Phillips (McMaster University, Canada) investigating the influence of exercise, nutrition, and inactivity on muscle metabolic health across the lifespan. During this time, Dr Breen developed a keen interest in musculoskeletal ageing, and undertook extensive specialist training in stable isotope tracer methodology and muscle biochemistry techniques to characterise mechanisms of age-related musculoskeletal deterioration.
Since re-joining UoB, Dr Breen has continued to develop his research in musculoskeletal metabolism and has substantial funding to support this work (including BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, Abbeyfield Foundation, The Physiological Society). Dr Breen has currently authored/co-authored ~42 publications in the field of exercise, nutrition and musculoskeletal metabolism. Dr Breen has been invited to speak at several international conferences/symposiums and acts as peer-reviewer for many highly respected scientific journals in the exercise, nutrition and muscle metabolism field.