Dr James Turner PhD, FHEA

Dr James Turner

School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences
Associate Professor in Exercise Physiology and Immunology

Contact details

Email
j.e.turner.2@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@JamesE_Turner
View my research portal
Address
School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

James is internationally recognised as having expertise in exercise physiology or more specifically, exercise immunology. His research explores the impact lifestyle has on mechanisms of ageing and chronic disease. The projects James leads span two themes: (1) overweight/obesity and immune system ageing – focussing on adipose tissue immunology; and (2) physical activity and cancer immunology – focussing on factors that influence treatment outcomes, primarily in breast cancer, but also lung cancer and forms of blood cancer.

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science – University of Bath, 2006
  • PhD Exercise biochemistry and immunology – University of Birmingham, 2011

Biography

James became employed as an Associate Professor in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham in 2022. James started his independent academic career and established his research as an Assistant Professor in the Department for Health at the University of Bath in 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. Prior to his independent academic career, James undertook a PhD between 2007-2010 at the University of Birmingham. His PhD research covered topics related to exercise, ageing and immune system functioning. Following his PhD, James remained at the University of Birmingham to undertake three years of post-doctoral training in cancer immunology. 

Teaching

Lead for the Year 1 module Becoming a Researcher, taught across: BSc Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences; BSc Sport, PE and Coaching Science; BSc Applied Golf Management Studies; BSc/MSci Physiotherapy.

Postgraduate supervision

As a lead supervisor, James has mentored 2 PhDs, 1 MD and 1 D.Health to completion. As a co-supervisor, James has mentored 6 PhDs to completion. James welcomes informal expressions of interest by e-mail from anyone interested in undertaking a PhD aligned with his expertise. 

Current post-graduate supervision (at the University of Bath)

  1. T. Chawrai. (PhD). Understanding links between a physically active lifestyle, adipose tissue and immunosenescence. 2021-2025 [co-supervisor]
  2. A. Nicholas. (PhD). Dietary strategies to target adipose tissue inflammation in ageing. 2021-2025 [external supervisor]
  3. I. Franco. (PhD). Establishing the role of adipose tissue inflammation in the regulation of muscle mass in older people. 2024-2029 [external supervisor]

Completed post-graduate supervision (lead supervisor)

  1. A. Arana (PhD). Understanding factors that influence breast cancer risk, disease progression and treatment outcomes. 2018-2022
  2. L. Struszczak (PhD). Investigating lifestyle and aspects of immunity among healthy women, patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancer and survivors of the disease. 2015-2020
  3. P. Thomson (MD). An Investigation into the Efficacy of Interventional Therapy for Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders. Population Studies from North- East England. 2015-2016
  4. D. Marriage (D.Health). The NutCracker Study: a study of incidental sensitisation to peanut in egg allergic children, and the utility of component-resolved diagnostic testing to Ara h 2 in predicting clinical outcome. 2015-2016

Completed post-graduate supervision (co-supervisor)

  1. H. Collier-Baine. (PhD). Characterising the effects of acute exercise on immune competency across the multiple myeloma survivorship continuum. 2020-2024
  2. H. Smith (PhD). Nutrient timing, metabolism and health in humans. 2018-2022     
  3. M. Simms (PhD). Organizational stressors, immune function and performance in elite sport. 2016-2021
  4. A. Emery (PhD). Evaluating the anti-tumour effects of physical activity in smouldering multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. 2017-2021
  5. W. Trim (PhD). The Impact of Physical Inactivity, Ageing, and Nutrition on Adipose Tissue Function.   2015-2019
  6. N. Sukri (PhD). Influence of hyperthermia and antioxidant supplementation on redox balance and heat shock protein response to exercise. 2013-2017     

Research

The influence of lifestyle and aspects of physiology on:

  1. Immune system ageing (or immunosenescence)
  2. Inflammation (or inflammageing)
  3. Cancer (risk and treatment)

Other activities

Editorial roles: 

Other professional roles: 

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Turner, J, Spielmann , G & Campbell, J (eds) 2024, Exercise Immunology. 2 edn, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003256991

Article

Brown, FF, Oliver, R, Eddy, R, Causer, AJ, Emery, A, Collier-Bain, HD, Dutton, D, Crowe, J, Augustine, D, Graby, J, Rees, D, Rothschild-Rodriguez, D, Peacock, OJ, Moore, S, Murray, J, Turner, JE & Campbell, JP 2026, 'A 16-week progressive exercise training intervention in treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a randomised-controlled pilot study', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 14, 1472551. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2024.1472551

Struszczak, L, Walhin, JP, Betts, J, Thompson, D, Beresford, M & Turner, JE 2026, 'Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Functional Fitness and Body Composition Among Breast Cancer Survivors With 8 Weeks of Exercise Training: A Randomised, Controlled Non‐Inferiority Trial Comparing Remotely‐Supported and Partly‐Supervised Interventions', Cancer Medicine, vol. 15, no. 2, e71608. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.71608

Niven, J, Kucuk, S, Gope, A, Certo, M, Cassidy, FC, Arana Echarri, A, Ali, S, Ladoukakis, E, Vidali, S, Macchi, C, Amir, SS, Bergin, R, Davies, S, Perkin, OJ, Smith, J, Cucchi, D, Heneghan, H, Wijesinghe, S, Jenkins, BJ, Baig, S, Mahony, C, Chidomere, C, Sarkar, S, Nicolaou, A, Caamaño, J, Croft, A, Davies, E, Thompson, D, O’Shea, D, Jones, SW, Duggal, NA, Ruscica, M, Makarova, M, Jones, N, Da Silva Xavier, G, Geberhiwot, T, Turner, JE, Hogan, AE, Nedjai, B & Mauro, C 2026, 'DNA methylation-mediated memory of obesity in CD4 T lymphocytes perpetuates immune dysregulation', EMBO Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-026-00765-w

Stanhope, EN, Thomsen, SN, Turner, JE, Fairman, CM & Lahart, IM 2025, 'Low Muscle Mass and Treatment Tolerance in Patients With Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis', JCSM Communications, vol. 8, no. 1, e115. https://doi.org/10.1002/rco2.115

Collier-Bain, HD, Emery, A, Causer, AJ, Brown, FF, Oliver, R, Dutton, D, Crowe, J, Augustine, D, Graby, J, Leach, S, Eddy, R, Rothschild-Rodriguez, D, Gray, JC, Cragg, MS, Cleary, KL, Moore, S, Murray, J, Turner, JE & Campbell, JP 2024, 'A single bout of vigorous intensity exercise enhances the efficacy of rituximab against human chronic lymphocytic leukaemia B-cells ex vivo', Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, vol. 118, pp. 468-479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.03.023

Collier-Bain, HD, Emery, A, Brown, FF, Causer, AJ, Oliver, R, Eddy, R, Leach, S, Graby, J, Augustine, D, Moore, S, Crowe, J, Murray, J, Turner, JE & Campbell, JP 2024, 'Characterising how a single bout of exercise in people with myeloma affects clonal plasma cell and immune effector cell frequency in blood, and daratumumab efficacy in vitro', Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity Health, vol. 42, 100865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100865

Collier-Bain, HD, Brown, FF, Causer, AJ, Ross, L, Rothschild-Rodriguez, D, Browne, N, Eddy, R, Cleary, KL, Gray, JC, Cragg, MS, Moore, S, Murray, J, Turner, JE & Campbell, JP 2024, 'Downhill running does not alter blood C1q availability or complement-dependent cytotoxicity of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against haematological cancer cell lines in vitro', Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, 28239. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79690-8

Voltarelli, VA, Amano, MT, Tobias, GC, Borges, GS, Oliveira da Paixão, A, Pereira, MG, Saraiva Câmara, NO, Caldeira, W, Ribeiro, AF, Otterbein, LE, Negrão, CE, Turner, JE, Brum, PC & Camargo, AA 2024, 'Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise training improves CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes effector function by reducing mitochondrial loss', iScience, vol. 27, no. 6, 110121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110121

Merrell, LH, Perkin, OJ, Bradshaw, L, Collier‐Bain, HD, Collins, AJ, Davies, S, Eddy, R, Hickman, JA, Nicholas, AP, Rees, D, Spellanzon, B, James, LJ, McKay, AKA, Smith, HA, Turner, JE, Koumanov, F, Maher, J, Thompson, D, Gonzalez, JT & Betts, JA 2024, 'Myths and Methodologies: Standardisation in human physiology research—should we control the controllables?', Experimental Physiology. https://doi.org/10.1113/ep091557

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Turner, J & Campbell, J 2024, History of exercise immunology. in J Turner, G Spielmann & J Campbell (eds), Exercise Immunology. 2 edn, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003256991-1

Comment/debate

Turner, JE & Lynch, BM 2026, 'Too much of a good thing? Exercise and risk of colon cancer', Cancer Epidemiology, vol. 103, 103149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canep.2026.103149

Editorial

Lira, FS, Rosa-Neto, JC & Turner, J 2024, 'Editorial: Immunometabolism applied to exercise, nutrition and pharmacology treatment', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 14, 1360040. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1360040

Review article

Sheldon, R, Gan, A, Tasong, J, Yap, A, Ahmad, M, Júnior, PRH, Viswanathan, K, Setti, NSM, Jarman, O, Hoque-Uddin, S, Banerjee, T, Turner, JE, Jones, SW & Veiga Sardeli, A 2025, 'Exercise-Induced Inflammatory and Metabolic adaptations in Ageing: A Meta-Analytic Compendium', Ageing Research Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2025.102974

Stordal, B, Harvie, M, Antoniou, MN, Bellingham, M, Chan, DSM, Darbre, P, Karlsson, O, Kortenkamp, A, Magee, P, Mandriota, S, Silva, E, Turner, JE, Vandenberg, LN & Evans, DG 2024, 'Breast cancer risk and prevention in 2024: An overview from the Breast Cancer UK ‐ Breast Cancer Prevention Conference', Cancer Medicine, vol. 13, no. 18, e70255. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.70255

View all publications in research portal