Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Karen Suetterlin

NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Neurophysiology

Background

My research interest lies in developing and delivering next generation neurophysiology for rare neuromuscular disease and sarcopenia. I am a member of the AGE Research Group (https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ageresearchgroup/people/drkarensuetterlin.html) and the John Walton Centre for Muscular Dystrophy. I am the BRC Emerging Leader for the Ageing Sarcopenia and Multimorbidity Theme (https://www.newcastlebrc.nihr.ac.uk/ageing-sarcopenia-multimorbidity/).



ORCID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6505-9404 

Twitter @KarenSuetterlin


Research

My research interest lies in applying research in neuromuscular disease and skeletal muscle physiology to ageing and multimorbidity.


One of my current projects is funded by an ART of Healthy Ageing Pump Prime Grant. We aim to develop a simple, inexpensive handgrip exercise protocol that can be used to diagnose sarcopenia and detect/monitor mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle ( https://research.ncl.ac.uk/artofhealthyageing/fundedprojects/). One in 5,000 individuals have primary mitochondrial dysfunction in the form of genetic mitochondrial disease whilst secondary mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in insulin resistance/diabetes and tthe loss of muscle mass and function with age. However, it is currently very difficult to diagnose or monitor primary or secondary mitochondrial dysfunction without expensive or invasive tests. In order to develop and validate a method to reliably detect mitochondrial dysfunction non-invasively, we will measure muscle relaxation and muscle oxygen extraction during a handgrip exercise protocol in healthy controls and patients with genetically confirmed mitochondrial disease.


I am a Co-PI on the NIHR BRC funded MASS Lifecourse project. The MASS LC project recruits adults across a wide age range in order to characterises health and lifestyle in detail and measure body composition and physical function. The aim is to gain insights into muscle health that will define the optimal timing and design of future interventions to prevent and treat sarcopenia.


During my PhD I focussed on investigating the mechanism behind the phenotype change with age in periodic paralysis. Periodic paralysis is a rare genetic muscle disease caused by mutations in muscle ion channels. In periodic paralysis, and other 'channelopathies', the phenotype changes from an episodic to a degenerative one with age. However, the reason for this is not known. I reverse translated a technique called Muscle Velocity Recovery Cycles (MVRCs) that allows assessment of skeletal muscle excitability and ion channel function in vivo. This work gave a first description of mechanisms involved in phenotype transition with age in periodic paralysis. However, it also demonstrates how studying phenotype transition with age in monogenic disease can yield novel insights into both disease physiology and the ageing process itself.




Publications