Susan Wray Explained

Sue Wray
Birth Name:Susan C. Wray
Awards:Joan Mott Prize Lecture (2006)
Education:Chadderton Grammar School for Girls
Workplaces:University College London
University of Liverpool
Alma Mater:University College London (BSc, PhD)
Fields:Smooth muscle physiology
Reproduction
Cell signalling
Thesis Url:https://copac.jisc.ac.uk/id/12996362?style=html
Thesis Title:Factors controlling involution of connective tissue in the uterus
Thesis Year:1980
Doctoral Advisor:Robert Harkness

Susan C. Wray is professor of cellular and molecular physiology at the University of Liverpool. She also serves as the President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS)[1] and is president of the Federation of European Physiological Societies (FEPS).[2] She was the founding editor-in-chief of Physiological Reports.[3] [4] and is the first editor-in-chief of Current Research in Physiology.[5] She serves as director of the centre of better births in Liverpool Women's Hospital which was opened in 2013 with funding of £2.5 million with the objective of basic scientists working together with clinicians on problems during pregnancy.[6] Along with, she leads the Harris wellbeing preterm birth centre.[7] Wray is the director of the University of Liverpool Athena SWAN and team leader for the institute of translational medicine.[8] Her primary research interests are in smooth muscle physiology, reproductive medicine and cell signalling.[9]

Education

After attending the local authority-run Chadderton Grammar School for Girls, Wray received her Bachelor of Science degree in physiology and, in 1979, her PhD from University College London for research investigating gestational changes in the connective tissue of the uterus.[10]

Career and research

After postdoctoral research at UCL she moved to the University of Liverpool in 1990 where she was promoted to professor in 1996 and served as head of the department of physiology from 2004 to 2008. Wray's early research focused on changes of connective tissue in the uterus during and after pregnancy.[11] She then helped develop spectroscopic methods to characterize metabolism in human neonates.[12] Since moving to Liverpool, she has focused on the relationship between metabolism and function in smooth muscle. In particular, she has elucidated the effects of pH on contractility. In order to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, she performed some of the first measurements of intracellular calcium in smooth muscle. Subsequent work into the relationship between calcium and excitability led to new understanding of the origin of the refractory period in the ureter.[13] Her translational work has led to measurements of lactate to predict labour outcome[14] and to the use of bicarbonate to increase the pH of the mother and thereby increase the strength of uterine contractions, reducing the requirement for caesarean sections.[15] She has also shown that problems of labour experienced by obese mothers can be explained by impaired smooth muscle contractility.[16] In 2015, she demonstrated a novel mechanism whereby repetitive, transient episodes of hypoxia increase uterine contractions during labour.[17] Her work has also investigated the use of plant-derived cyclotides as well as modifications to the natural hormone oxytocin[18] to serve as templates for novel compounds to accelerate labor.[19] Some of her research can be seen in a video of one of her lectures.[20]

Women in Science

Wray has been engaged with gender equality and mentoring throughout her career. She is an academic champion for the Higher Education Foundation AURORA Women in Leadership Scheme.[21] She gave the inaugural Athena Swan Lecture at Edge Hill University in 2016.[22] She also worked on the SUSTAIN[23] initiative for women in science. With Tilli Tansey she co-edited the book Women physiologists: centenary celebrations and beyond for The Physiological Society which includes forewords by Julia Higgins and Susan Greenfield.[24] [25] This book has been used as a source to encourage the writing of more Wikipedia articles about women physiologists.

Awards and honours

Wray was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2002,[26] [27] an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG) in 2006[28] and a member of the Academia Europaea (MAE) in 2008.[29] She was awarded the Joan Mott Prize Lecture by The Physiological Society in 2006 and elected as an honorary member of the Physiological Society in 2015.[30] In 2012 she was nominated a knowledge hero by the Liverpool Echo.[31]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Executive Committee . 2022-06-08 . International Union of Physiological Sciences . en-US.
  2. Web site: Executive Committee FEPS. feps.org.
  3. Web site: Prof Susan Wray BSc, PhD, FRCOG, FMedSci. University of Liverpool. liv.ac.uk.
  4. 2012 . Editor-in-Chief and Deputy appointed for Physiological Reports . Physiology News . 89 . 8.
  5. Web site: Current Research in Physiology Editorial Board.
  6. Web site: New £2.5m research centre in Liverpool launched to save babies and improve births. 2013-04-26. liverpoolecho.co.uk.
  7. Web site: Harris Programme Grant . 2015-02-16.
  8. Web site: Athena SWAN . 2015-01-18.
  9. Delpy. D T. Cope. M. Zee. P van der. Arridge. S. Wray. S. Wyatt. J. Estimation of optical pathlength through tissue from direct time of flight measurement. Physics in Medicine and Biology. 33. 12. 1988. 1433–1442. 0031-9155. 10.1088/0031-9155/33/12/008. 3237772. 1988PMB....33.1433D. 250734796 .
  10. PhD. Susan C.. Wray. Factors controlling involution of connective tissue in the uterus. . 1980. london.ac.uk.
  11. The role of mechanical and hormonal stimuli on uterine involution in the rat. The Journal of Physiology. 1982. 0022-3751. 1225643. 7131308. 1–9. 328. Susan. Wray. 10.1113/jphysiol.1982.sp014249.
  12. Characterization of the near infrared absorption spectra of cytochrome aa3 and haemoglobin for the non-invasive monitoring of cerebral oxygenation. 1988. 0006-3002. 2831976. 184–192. 933. 1. S.. Wray. M.. Cope. D. T.. Delpy. J. S.. Wyatt. E. O.. Reynolds. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics. 10.1016/0005-2728(88)90069-2.
  13. Action potential refractory period in ureter smooth muscle is set by Ca sparks and BK channels. Nature. 2005. 1476-4687. 16049489. 559–562. 436. 7050. 10.1038/nature03834. T.. Burdyga. Susan. Wray. 2005Natur.436..559B. 4306942.
  14. Level of lactate in amniotic fluid and its relation to the use of oxytocin and adverse neonatal outcome. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica. 2014. 1600-0412. 24102442. 80–85. 93. 1. 10.1111/aogs.12261. Eva. Wiberg-Itzel. Andrea B.. Pembe. Susan. Wray. Anna-Carin. Wihlbäck. Elisabeth. Darj. Irene. Hoesli. Helena. Åkerud. 20153031. free.
  15. Wiberg-Itzel. Eva. Wray. Susan. Åkerud. Helena. 2017. A randomized controlled trial of a new treatment for labor dystocia. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine. 31. 17. 2237–2244. 10.1080/14767058.2017.1339268. 1476-4954. 28587493. 205832304.
  16. Poor uterine contractility in obese women. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2007. 1470-0328. 17261121. 343–348. 114. 3. 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.01233.x. J.. Zhang. L.. Bricker. S.. Wray. S.. Quenby.
  17. Hypoxia-induced force increase (HIFI) is a novel mechanism underlying the strengthening of labor contractions, produced by hypoxic stresses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015. 1091-6490. 4534208. 26195731. 9763–9768. 112. 31. 10.1073/pnas.1503497112. Mohammed. Alotaibi. Sarah. Arrowsmith. Susan. Wray. 2015PNAS..112.9763A. free.
  18. Muttenthaler. Markus. Andersson. Åsa. Vetter. Irina. Menon. Rohit. Busnelli. Marta. Ragnarsson. Lotten. Bergmayr. Christian. Arrowsmith. Sarah. Deuis. Jennifer R.. 2017. Subtle modifications to oxytocin produce ligands that retain potency and improved selectivity across species. Science Signaling. 10. 508. eaan3398. 10.1126/scisignal.aan3398. 1937-9145. 29208680. 5892705.
  19. Koehbach. Johannes. O'Brien. Margaret. Muttenthaler. Markus. Miazzo. Marion. Akcan. Muharrem. Elliott. Alysha G.. Daly. Norelle L.. Harvey. Peta J.. Arrowsmith. Sarah. 2013. Oxytocic plant cyclotides as templates for peptide G protein-coupled receptor ligand design. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110. 52. 21183–21188. 10.1073/pnas.1311183110. 1091-6490. 3876230. 24248349. 2013PNAS..11021183K. free.
  20. Web site: Keynote lecture: Susan Wray. The Physiological Society. 26 August 2016. YouTube.
  21. Web site: Leadership Foundation: Aurora. lfhe.ac.uk. 2015-11-03.
  22. Web site: Guest Lecture - Professor Susan Wray, University of Liverpool - Events. edgehill.ac.uk. en-US. 2016-06-18.
  23. Web site: SUSTAIN . Academy of Medical Sciences. acmedsci.ac.uk. 2015-11-03.
  24. Book: The Physiological Society. 2015. Women phsysiologists : centenary celebrations and beyond. 9780993341007. 922032986. Susan. Wray. Elizabeth. Tansey. London.
  25. Web site: Women in physiology.
  26. Web site: Ordinary Fellows: Professor Susan Wray. The Academy of Medical Sciences. acmedsci.ac.uk.
  27. Web site: Demystifying the uterus for better births - The Academy of Medical Sciences. acmedsci.ac.uk.
  28. Web site: Fellows ad eundem. Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. en-US. 2019-07-31.
  29. Web site: Academy of Europe: Wray Susan. www.ae-info.org.
  30. Web site: Honorary Members S-Z. The Physiological Society. en-GB. 2019-06-25.
  31. Web site: Who is the Liverpool ECHO's Knowledge Hero? Professor Sue Wray from the University of Liverpool. liverpoolecho.co.uk. 29 October 2012. 2015-11-03.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Susan Wray".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.