Ms Justine Michelle Webster MRes

Ms Justine Michelle Webster

Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research
PhD student

Contact details

Email
jmw801@student.bham.ac.uk
Address
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Justine is a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham and Maastricht University. Her research focus is on pre-receptor glucocorticoid metabolism in muscle atrophy in chronic inflammatory disease (rheumatoid arthritis and COPD predominantly). She is part of Dr Rowan Hardy’s research group. In addition, she is also integrated into the Pulmonology department at Maastricht University, under the supervision of Dr Ramon Langen.

Justine's PhD thesis title is 'The role of pre-receptor glucocorticoid metabolism in atrophy signalling in inflammatory-associated muscle wasting'

Justine is part of the integrated Maastricht/University of Birmingham PhD Programme.

Qualifications

  • MRes in Biomedical Science and Translational Medicine (Biology of Cancer), University of Liverpool, 2017
  • BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science, Liverpool John Moores University, 2016

Biography

The focus on Justine's PhD is investigating the effects of glucocorticoid activation by 11β-HSD1 in muscle wasting in a COPD and chronic inflammatory models. Many skills were acquired and further developed, such as experience working with and optimising animal models, DNA/RNA extraction and purification, RT-qPCR, electrophoresis and western blot analysis, histology and imaging, thin-layer chromatography, immunohistochemistry, primary cell culture, ELISA and statistical analysis.

Other activities

Licences and Certifications

  • Laboratory Animal Science; Article 9 Wet op de Dierproeven (Wod), Netherlands. Issued September 2019
  • Radiation Protection Awareness; Public Health England. Issued May 2018
  • Home office Licence; PIL A & B Certified. Issued Dec 2016

Awards

  • Winner of the ‘Basic Science’ Poster Award at the Conference on Cachexia, Sarcopenia & Muscle Wasting (SCWD), Berlin, December 2019
  • Winner of the NUTRIM Fundamental Poster Award at the NUTRIM Symposium November 2019
  • Awarded travel grant from British Endocrine Society in 2018 to attend BES Sfe 2019
  • Awarded travel grant from British Endocrine Society in 2018 to attend BES Sfe 2018
  • Awarded travel grant from British Endocrine Society in 2019 to attend ENDO 2019

Society Memberships

  • European Respiratory Society
  • Society for Endocrinology
  • The American Endocrine Society
  • Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Muscle Wasting

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Webster, J, Sagmeister, M, Fenton, C, Seabright, A, Lai, Y-C, Jones, S, Filer, A, Cooper, MS, Lavery, G, Raza, K, Langen, R & Hardy, R 2021, 'Global deletion of 11β-HSD1 prevents muscle wasting associated with glucocorticoid therapy in polyarthritis', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 22, no. 15, 7828. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22157828

Webster, J, Fenton, C, Langen, R & Hardy, R 2019, 'Exploring the interface between inflammatory and therapeutic glucocorticoid induced bone and muscle loss', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 20, no. 22, 5768. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20225768

Fenton, C, Webster, J, Martin, C, Fareed, S, Wehmeyer, C, Mackie, H, Jones, R, Seabright, A, Lewis, J, Lai, Y-C, Goodyear, CS, Jones, S, Cooper, MS, Lavery, G, Langen, R, Raza, K & Hardy, R 2019, 'Therapeutic glucocorticoids prevent bone loss but drive muscle wasting when administered in chronic polyarthritis', Arthritis Research & Therapy, vol. 21, no. 1, 182. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-019-1962-3

Review article

Webster, J, Kempen, L, Hardy, R & Langen, R 2020, 'Inflammation and skeletal muscle wasting during cachexia', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 2020, 597675. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.597675