Mike Gleeson
Professor of Exercise Biochemistry
Contact details
Room: HE.1.07
Phone: +44 (0)1509 226345
Fax: +44 (0)1509 226301
Email: M.Gleeson@lboro.ac.uk
Biography
Professor Mike Gleeson graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham and then completed a PhD on the effects of diet and exercise on energy metabolism at the University of Central Lancashire. He then worked as a research fellow at Salford University and a lecturer in veterinary physiology at the University of Edinburgh, before moving to Aberdeen University in 1985. There he teamed up with Ron Maughan and Paul Greenhaff and worked on research projects investigating the effects of dietary manipulation on metabolism and performance in high intensity exercise. In 1987 Mike was appointed senior lecturer in human physiology at Coventry University where he became interested in the effects of exercise on immune function. In 1996 he was appointed as a senior lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham and in 1999 he was awarded a personal chair in exercise biochemistry. Mike moved to Loughborough University in October 2002 as the new Professor of Exercise Biochemistry. Over the past 20 years he has published over 150 papers on exercise physiology, biochemistry and immunology and sports nutrition. He is a member of the Physiological Society, Nutrition Society, International Society of Exercise and Immunology, American College of Sports Medicine and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) and he is a BASES accredited exercise physiologist. He is also an elected Fellow of the European College of Sport Science. He is a past editor of the Journal of Sports Sciences and is currently associate editor of Exercise Immunology Review; he is also a member of the advisory boards of several other journals including the European Journal of Applied Physiology and the Journal of Sports Sciences. He is a keen tennis player, a bit of a cinema buff, and an armchair football fan.
Research and Teaching Interests
Mike's recent research has focussed on the effects of exercise, intensified training and nutrition on immune function in athletes. He is also interested in exercise metabolism, thermoregulation during exercise, nutrition for sport, and the detection and prevention of overtraining in endurance athletes. In recent years his research has been supported by Sport England, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestle, Yakult and the Football Association.
Selected External Research-Related Roles
- Vice-President (2005-07) and President (2007-09) of the International Society of Exercise and Immunology (www.isei.dk).
- Associate Editor of Exercise Immunology Review.
- Member of editorial board of the European Journal of Applied Physiology and editorial advisory board of the Journal of Sports Sciences.
- Member of International Life Science Institute Expert Group on Nutrients and Immune Resistance to Infections, 2003-04.
- Member of ECSS Expert Group on the Overtraining Syndrome: Causes, Consequences and Prevention, 2005-2006.
Selected Invited Conference Keynote and Speaker Presentations
- Nutritional strategies to limit physical stress in footballers. Invited lecture for Gatorade Conference on Nutrition in Football, Baveno, Italy, 17th-20th May 2006.
- Immunological aspects of overtraining: indicators and practical guidelines. Invited lecture for Overtraining Symposium, ECSS, Lausanne, 5th-8th July 2006.
- Is there any probiotic benefit for athletes and sports people? Probiotic Relevance: Putting Theory into Practice (Yakult Symposium), London, 21st October 2008.
- Nutrition and the immune system: what works and what doesn’t. Sport Nutrition Conference, Birmingham, 14th-15th November, 2008.
- Immune responses and risk of illness in elite athletes. XXX FIMS World Congress of Sports Medicine, Barcelona, 19th-23rd November 2008.
- Effectiveness of immune boosting supplements in athletes. British Olympic Association and Sports Dietitians UK Sports Nutrition Conference, Olympic Medical Institute, London 29th April 2009.
- Blood and saliva monitoring in football. Think Fitness Performance Conference, Tring, 6th May 2009.
Selected Recent Research Projects and Sources of Funding:
- Influence of polyphenol (dark chocolate) ingestion on hormonal, cytokine and immune responses to prolonged exercise. Nestle Research Center, £37,850 (September 2005 - July 2006) and £66,280 (May 2007 - November 2007).
- Modulation of the migratory properties of T lymphocytes following prolonged exercise by carbohydrate feeding. GlaxoSmithKline, £94,627. Co-investigators: NC Bishop, C Hewitt (Leicester University). May 2006 - October 2007.
- The effects of ActiCaf on physical and cognitive performance during exercise. Nestle Research Center, £53,841. Co-investigator: E Hogervorst. September 2006 - April 2007.
- Effects of Yakult probiotic on mucosal immunity and infection risk in an athletic population, Yakult, £69,400. Co-investigator: NC Bishop. November 2008 – September 2009.
- Effects of a probiotic intervention on infection, cold symptom duration/severity and mucosal immunity in endurance athletes. GlaxoSmithKline, £49,300. Co-investigator: NC Bishop. January 2009 – October 2009.
- Effects of an anti-inflammatory probiotic intervention on muscle soreness and markers of inflammation and muscle damage following eccentric exercise, GlaxoSmithKline, £33,000. Co-investigator: JP Folland. May 2009 – October 2009.
Selected Recent Publications
- Jeukendrup, A.E. and Gleeson, M. (2010) Sport Nutrition: An Introduction to Energy Production and Performance. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Second edition. ISBN 0-7360-7962-9.
- Maughan, R.J. and Gleeson, M. (2010). The Biochemical Basis of Sports Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Second edition. ISBN 978-0-19-920828-9.
- Oliveira, M. and Gleeson, M. (2010). The influence of prolonged cycling on monocyte Toll-like receptor 2 and 4 expression in healthy men. European Journal of Applied Physiology 109(2): 251-257.
- Bishop, N.C., Walker, G.J., Gleeson, M., Wallace, F.A. and Hewitt, C.R.A. (2009). Human T lymphocyte migration towards the supernatants of Human Rhinovirus infected airway epithelial cells: Influence of exercise and carbohydrate intake. Exercise Immunology Review 15: 42-59.
- Bishop, N.C. and Gleeson, M. (2009). Acute and chronic effects of exercise on markers of mucosal immunity. Frontiers in Bioscience 14(12): 4444-4456.
- Davison, G., Allgrove, J.E. and Gleeson, M. (2009). Salivary IgA, antimicrobial peptides (alpha-defensins HNP1-3, and LL-37) and antimicrobial activity responses to prolonged exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology 106(2): 277-284.
- Allgrove, J.E., Gomez, E., Hough, J. and Gleeson, M. (2008). Effects of exercise intensity on salivary antimicrobial proteins and markers of stress in active men. Journal of Sport Sciences 26(6): 653-661.
- Neville, V., Gleeson, M. and Folland, J.P. (2008). Salivary IgA as a risk factor for upper respiratory infections in elite professional athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 40(7): 1228-1236.
- Hogervorst, E., Bandelow, S., Schmitt, J., Jentjens, R., Oliveira, M., Allgrove, J., Carter, T. and Gleeson, M. (2008). Caffeine improves physical and cognitive performance during exhaustive exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 40(10): 1841-1851.
- Davison, G., Gleeson, M. and Phillips, S. (2007). Antioxidant supplementation and immunoendocrine responses to prolonged exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 39(4): 645-652.
- Davison, G., Gleeson, M. and Phillips, S. (2007). Antioxidant supplementation and immunoendocrine responses to prolonged exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 39(4), 645-652.
- Gleeson, M., McFarlin, B. and Flynn, M. (2006). Exercise and Toll-like receptors. Exercise Immunology Review, 12, 34-53.
- Gleeson, M., Editor (2005). Immune function in Sport and Exercise. Advances in Sport and Exercise Science Series. Edinburgh, Elsevier, ISBN 0-443-10118-3.
You can view a fuller publications list on the University Publications Database.