The CO Research Group is headed by Dr Mari Herigstad, senior lecturer in the Department of Biosciences and Chemistry at Sheffield Hallam University.
Elsie Place is a Research Fellow investigating the effect of low-level CO on brain development. She started her work in the lab in February 2024.
Josh Durrans is a PhD student working on the effect of low-level CO on cardiac development. He started his PhD in February 2024.
Simon Clarke is a PhD student working on the effect of low-level CO on mitochondrial function and cardiac development. He started his PhD in October 2022.
Lucie Wilson is a PhD student working on the effect of CO on the human brain, using techniques such as MRI and transcranial Doppler ultrasound. She started her PhD in February 2021.
Master students in the lab are looking at the impact of CO exposure on cancer cells and extracellular vesicles.
We take on BSc students working on their final year projects. Projects have included investigating the impact of carbon monoxide on cancer cell growth and on cardiac development, developing an exposure chamber for carbon monoxide exposure of tissues and cells, analysing the impact of carbon monoxide on reaction time, autonomic control and cognitive processing, and assessing CO variation in ambient air.
We work with Professor Marysia Placzek (University of Sheffield) on projects investigating the impact of CO on the developing embryo. We also work with Dr Chris Morris (University of Newcastle) on biomarkers of low-level CO exposure, with the Moosavi lab at Oxford Brookes University on cerebrovascular impact of CO exposure through cigarette smoking, and with the Robbins lab at the University of Oxford on respiratory correlates of the same. We collaborate with Mrs Hilary Wareing at IPIP and with Mrs Isabella Myers (COMed (medical working group of the All-Party Parliamentary CO group, APPCOG) Chair, Member of APPCOG Stakeholder Forum Advisory Board) on select projects looking at CO impact on the developing embryo. We collaborate with Professor Robert Chilcott (University of Hertfordshire) on alternative techniques for measuring low-level CO exposure and its effect on the brain. Finally, we collaborate extensively with colleagues in the Biomolecular Research Centre (BMRC) at Sheffield Hallam University.
Emmanuel Debrah worked on cerebral mechanisms of breathlessness and its reliefs, with a particular focus on the role of the insula. He completed his PhD in Clinical Respiratory Physiology at Oxford Brookes University in 2016.
Anja Hayen worked on identifying brain mechanisms of dyspnoea in healthy volunteer models using functional magnetic resonance imaging. She completed her DPhil in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford in 2014.