Matthew Roberts

Matthew completed his PhD in 2020 at 含羞草视频 under the supervision of Professor David Stensel, Dr James King, and Professor David Webb. His thesis focused on the effect of exercise on blood vessel function and cardiovascular disease risk markers in South Asians.

Since January 2020, Matthew has worked as a Research Associate at 含羞草视频, working with Professor Lettie Bishop as part of the Lifestyle Theme of the NIHR-funded Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.

Matthew’s research interests span the effects of exercise on immunity, inflammation, and infection in the general population and those with specific long-term conditions. Matthew has recently been conducting studies in people living with long-covid and a form of chronic inflammatory arthritis: Axial Spondyloarthritis.

Matthew has expertise in exercise physiology, metabolic health, and immune function. His research focuses on the interaction between obesity, ethnicity, physical activity, inflammation, immune function, and chronic disease. Matthew is active in research, having been involved in over 15 peer-reviewed journal articles since 2020. He has also been an invited reviewer for Obesity (2023 & 2022), Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease (2023), Journal of Sport Sciences (2023), International Journal of Obesity (2023 & 2022 & 2021), American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2022), and Exercise Immunology Reviews (2021).

Current research projects include:

• Exercise as an anti-inflammatory management in people living with Axial Spondyloarthritis.
• Ageing of the immune system in people living with Axial Spondyloarthritis.
• The effect of sleep quality and stress on the immune system and inflammatory profiles.
• Mechanisms driving higher risk of cardiovascular disease in ethnic minorities.
• Functional assays investigating the movement of immune cells into metabolically active tissues.

Matthew also has experience in leading and managing NHS clinical trials through his work with people living with Axial Spondyloarthritis.

Matthew is a member of the Endocrinology Society and the Midlands Innovation Flow Cytometry group. He has served as a peer reviewer for Obesity, Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease, Journal of Sport Sciences, International Journal of Obesity, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Exercise Immunology Reviews.

Matthew regularly disseminates his research at national and international conferences such as the British Rheumatology Society, British Society for Spondyloarthritis, Midlands Rheumatology Society, and European Congress on Obesity. Matthew has recently won awards for his presentations from The British Society for Spondyloarthritis (2022) and the Midlands Rheumatology Society (2023).

Matthew has also given the following internal and external invited guest lectures:

• Exercise as an anti-inflammatory management for people living with AxSpA (Birmingham University Special Interest Group, 2024).
• Exercise as an anti-inflammatory management for chronic disease (含羞草视频, 2024).
• My chronic back pain is Axy-what? (含羞草视频 Public Lecture Series, 2023).
• Exercise and cardiovascular health in South Asian and White European populations (含羞草视频 Public Lecture series, 2019)

• Roberts MJ, Hamrouni M, Wadley AJ, Bishop NC. Adipose inflammation: South Asian ethnicity and central obesity are independently associated with higher immune cell recruitment to adipose-specific media: A pilot study in men. Physiol Rep. 2023 Nov;11(22):e15883.
• Shen T, Thackray AE, King JA, Alotaibi TF, Alanazi TM, Willis SA, et al. Are There Interindividual Responses of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Markers to Acute Exercise? A Replicate Crossover Trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024 Jan;56(1):63–72.
• Malaikah S, Willis SA, Henson J, Sargeant JA, Yates T, Thackray AE, et al. Associations of objectively measured physical activity, sedentary time and cardiorespiratory fitness with adipose tissue insulin resistance and ectopic fat. Int J Obes (Lond). 2023 Oct;47(10):1000–7.
• Malaikah S, Willis SA, Henson J, Sargeant JA, Yates T, Thackray AE, et al. Circulating leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 and fibroblast growth factor 21 are negatively associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy volunteers. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab = Physiol Appl Nutr  2023 Jun;48(6):436–44.
• Daynes E, Baldwin M, Greening NJ, Yates T, Bishop NC, Mills G, et al. The effect of COVID rehabilitation for ongoing symptoms Post HOSPitalisation with COVID-19 (PHOSP-R): protocol for a randomised parallel group controlled trial on behalf of the PHOSP consortium. Trials. 2023 Jan;24(1):61.
• Hamrouni M, Roberts MJ, Bishop NC. High grip strength attenuates risk of severe COVID-19 in males but not females with obesity: A short communication of prospective findings from UK Biobank. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2023;17(1):82–5.
• Bishop NC, Wadley AJ, Hamrouni M, Roberts MJ. Inactivity and obesity: consequences for macrophage-mediated inflammation and the development of cardiometabolic disease. Proc Nutr Soc. 2023 Feb;82(1):13–21.
• Roberts MJ, Thackray AE, Wadley AJ, Alotaibi TF, Hunter DJ, Thompson J, et al. Effect of Acute Walking on Endothelial Function and Postprandial Lipemia in South Asians and White Europeans. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2023 May;55(5):794–802.
• Roberts MJ, Leonard AN, Bishop NC, Moorthy A. Lifestyle modification and inflammation in people with axial spondyloarthropathy—A scoping review. Musculoskeletal Care [Internet]. 2022;20(3):516–28. 
• Hamrouni M, Roberts MJ, Bishop NC. The joint associations of physical activity and TV viewing time with COVID-19 mortality: An analysis of UK Biobank. J Sports Sci. 2022 Oct;40(20):2267–74.
• Hamrouni M, Roberts MJ, Bishop NC. Television Viewing Time, Overweight, Obesity, and Severe COVID-19: A Brief Report From UK Biobank. J Phys Act Health. 2022 Dec;19(12):837–41.
• Hamrouni M, Roberts MJ, Thackray A, Stensel DJ, Bishop N. Associations of obesity, physical activity level, inflammation and cardiometabolic health with COVID-19 mortality: a prospective analysis of the UK Biobank cohort. BMJ Open. 2021 Nov;11(11):e055003.
• Wadley AJ, Roberts MJ, Creighton J, Thackray AE, Stensel DJ, Bishop NC. Higher levels of physical activity are associated with reduced tethering and migration of pro-inflammatory monocytes in males with central obesity. Exerc Immunol Rev. 2021;27:54–66.
• Alotaibi TF, Thackray AE, Roberts MJ, Alanazi TM, Bishop NC, Wadley AJ, et al. Acute Running and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Markers in Male Cigarette Smokers and  Nonsmokers: A Randomized Crossover Trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 May;53(5):1021–32.