Dr Alun Hughes
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science
Email: A.T.Hughes@ljmu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0151 231 2335
ORCID
Dr Hughes' research interests are focussed on the mammalian circadian system and aim to address questions regarding the function and synchronisation of circadian oscillators in health and disease. These interests cover a broad spectrum of physiology and neuroscience, encompassing all tiers of organisation from the molecular level to whole animal behaviour and physiology. Dr Hughes has particular interests in the circadian biology of skin, skeletal muscle and neural tissue, neuropeptide regulation of circadian function and the impact of lifestyle factors such as exercise and diet on circadian biology.
Funding:
The Physiological Society, Research Grant. Running out of time: Exercise, skeletal muscle and the circadian system (£10,000)
Teaching Activities:
3409FNDSCI Building Blocks of Life (module leader)
4211NATSCI Physiology (module leader)
4202NATSCI Practical Skills for Biology
5212NATSCI Physiology of Life
5215NATSCI Comparative Animal Physiology
5216NATSCI Brain, Hormones and Behaviour
6202NATSCI Health and Disease
6207NATSCI Current Topics in Zoology
6211NATSCI Neurobiology
7104BRAIN Neuroendocrinology
Degrees
2006, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, PhD, Animal Biology
2001, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, MRes, Biological Sciences
2000, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, BSc, Biology
Academic appointments
Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Physiology, Behavioural and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, 2019 - present
Lecturer in Vertebrate Physiology, Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, 2017 - 2019
Postgraduate training
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, United Kingdom, Liverpool John Moores University, ? - present
Highlighted publications
Timothy JWS, Klas N, Sanghani H, Al-Mansouri T, Hughes ATL, Kirshenbaum GS, Brienza V, Belle MDC, Ralph MR, Clapcote SJ, Piggins HD. 2018. Circadian Disruptions in the Myshkin Mouse Model of Mania are Independent of Deficits in Suprachiasmatic Molecular Clock Function Biological Psychiatry, 84 :827-837 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL. 2018. Locomotor exercise and circadian rhythms in mammals Current Opinion in Physiology, 5 :51-57 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Yang N, Williams J, Pekovic-Vaughan V, Wang P, Olabi S, McConnell J, Gossan N, Hughes ATL, Cheung J, Streuli CH, Meng Q-J. 2017. Cellular mechano-environment regulates the mammary circadian clock Nature Communications, 8 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Power A, Hughes ATL, Samuels RE, Piggins HD. 2010. Rhythm-Promoting Actions of Exercise in Mice with Deficient Neuropeptide Signaling JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS, 25 :235-246 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Hughes AT, Fahey B, Cutler DJ, Coogan AN, Piggins HD. 2004. Aberrant gating of photic input to the suprachiasmatic circadian pacemaker of mice lacking the VPAC2 receptor. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 24 :3522-3526 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Journal article
Wegner S, Belle MDC, Chang PS, Hughes ATL, Conibear AE, Muir C, Samuels RE, Piggins HD. 2024. Loss of neuropeptide signalling alters temporal expression of mouse suprachiasmatic neuronal state and excitability European Journal of Neuroscience, 60 :6617-6633 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bendall RCA, Elton SN, Hughes ATL. 2024. Expressive suppression mediates the relationship between sleep quality and generalized anxiety symptomology Scientific Reports, 14 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hitrec T, Petit C, Cryer E, Muir C, Tal N, Fustin JM, Hughes ATL, Piggins HD. 2023. Timed exercise stabilizes behavioral rhythms but not molecular programs in the brain's suprachiasmatic clock iScience, 26 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Fawcett SA, Al Kassas R, Dykes IM, Hughes AT, Ghali F, Ross K. 2022. A Time to Heal: MicroRNA and Circadian Dynamics in Cutaneous Wound Repair Clinical Science, 136 :579-597 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL, Samuels RE, Baño-Otálora B, Belle MDC, Wegner S, Guilding C, Northeast RC, Loudon ASI, Gigg J, Piggins HD. 2021. Timed daily exercise remodels circadian rhythms in mice Communications Biology, 4 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Northeast RC, Chrobok L, Hughes ATL, Petit C, Piggins HD. 2020. Keeping time in the lamina terminalis: Novel oscillator properties of forebrain sensory circumventricular organs The FASEB Journal, 34 :974-987 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Latif I, Hughes ATL, Bendall RCA. 2019. Positive and Negative Affect Mediate the Influences of a Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategy on Sleep Quality Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Timothy JWS, Klas N, Sanghani H, Al-Mansouri T, Hughes ATL, Kirshenbaum GS, Brienza V, Belle MDC, Ralph MR, Clapcote SJ, Piggins HD. 2018. Circadian Disruptions in the Myshkin Mouse Model of Mania are Independent of Deficits in Suprachiasmatic Molecular Clock Function Biological Psychiatry, 84 :827-837 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL. 2018. Locomotor exercise and circadian rhythms in mammals Current Opinion in Physiology, 5 :51-57 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Wegner S, Belle MDC, Hughes ATL, Diekman CO, Piggins HD. 2017. Delayed cryptochrome degradation asymmetrically alters the daily rhythm in suprachiasmatic clock neuron excitability Journal of Neuroscience, 37 :7824-7836 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Yang N, Williams J, Pekovic-Vaughan V, Wang P, Olabi S, McConnell J, Gossan N, Hughes ATL, Cheung J, Streuli CH, Meng Q-J. 2017. Cellular mechano-environment regulates the mammary circadian clock Nature Communications, 8 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL, Croft CL, Samuels RE, Myung J, Takumi T, Piggins HD. 2015. Constant light enhances synchrony among circadian clock cells and promotes behavioral rhythms in VPAC(2)-signaling deficient mice Scientific Reports, 5 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL, Piggins HD. 2014. Disruption of daily rhythms in gene expression: the importance of being synchronised. BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 36 :644-648 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Yeung C-YC, Gossan N, Lu Y, Hughes ATL, Hensman JJ, Bayer ML, Kjaer M, Kadler KK, Meng Q-J. 2014. Gremlin-2 is a BMP antagonist that is regulated by the circadian clock Scientific Reports, DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Belle MDC, Hughes ATL, Bechtold DA, Cunningham P, Pierucci M, Burdakov D, Piggins HD. 2014. Acute Suppressive and Long-Term Phase Modulation Actions of Orexin on the Mammalian Circadian Clock The Journal of Neuroscience, 34 :3607-3621 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Gossan N, Zeef L, Hensman J, Hughes A, Bateman JF, Rowley L, Little CB, Piggins HD, Rattray M, Boot-Handford RP, Meng Q-J. 2013. The Circadian Clock in Murine Chondrocytes Regulates Genes Controlling Key Aspects of Cartilage Homeostasis Arthritis and Rheumatism, 65 :2334-2345 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Hughes ATL, Guilding C, Piggins HD. 2011. Neuropeptide Signaling Differentially Affects Phase Maintenance and Rhythm Generation in SCN and Extra-SCN Circadian Oscillators PLoS One, 6 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Guilding C, Hughes ATL, Piggins HD. 2010. Circadian oscillators in the epithalamus. Neuroscience, 169 :1630-1639 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Power A, Hughes ATL, Samuels RE, Piggins HD. 2010. Rhythm-Promoting Actions of Exercise in Mice with Deficient Neuropeptide Signaling JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS, 25 :235-246 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
guilding C, Hughes ATL, brown TM, namvar S, piggins HD. 2009. A riot of rhythms: neuronal and glial circadian oscillators in the mediobasal hypothalamus Molecular Brain, 2 :28-47 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Brown TM, Coogan AN, Cutler DJ, Hughes AT, Piggins HD. 2008. Electrophysiological actions of orexins on rat suprachiasmatic neurons in vitro NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS, 448 :273-278 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Hughes ATL, Guilding C, Lennox L, Samuels RE, McMahon DG, Piggins HD. 2008. Live imaging of altered period1 expression in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of Vipr2-/- mice Journal of Neurochemistry, 106 :1646-1657 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Guilding C, Hughes A, Brown T, Namvar S, Piggins H. 2008. An ensemble of novel circadian oscillators in the mouse mediobasal hypothalamus COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY A-MOLECULAR & INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY, 150 :S149-S149 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Hughes ATL, Piggins HD. 2008. Behavioral responses of Vipr2(-/-) mice to light JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS, 23 :211-219 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Brown TM, Hughes AT, Piggins HD. 2005. Gastrin-releasing peptide promotes suprachiasmatic nuclei cellular rhythmicity in the absence of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-VPAC2 receptor signaling. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 25 :11155-11164 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Hughes AT, Fahey B, Cutler DJ, Coogan AN, Piggins HD. 2004. Aberrant gating of photic input to the suprachiasmatic circadian pacemaker of mice lacking the VPAC2 receptor. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 24 :3522-3526 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Hughes A, Mann D, Pickering-Brown S. 2003. Tau haplotype frequency in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY, 181 :12-16 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Zupanc GKH, Clint SC, Takimoto N, Hughes ATL, Wellbrock UM, Meissner D. 2003. Spatio-temporal distribution of microglia/macrophages during regeneration in the cerebellum of adult teleost fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus: A quantitative analysis BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION, 62 :31-42 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Editorial/letter to the editor
Hughes ATL, Attarian HP, Hirayama J. 2022. Editorial: The circadian circus - how our clocks keep us ticking. Front Neurosci, 16 :973727 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Chapters
Piggins HD, Belle MDC, Baño-Otálora B, Joshi A, Hughes ATL. 2015. Extrinsic and intrinsic regulation of SCN neuronal activity and function Honma KI, Honma S. Circadian Clocks Hokkaido University Press. Sapporo, Japan
Hughes ATL, Piggins HD. 2012. Feedback actions of locomotor activity to the circadian clock Kalsbeek A, Merrow M, Roenneberg T, Foster RG. NEUROBIOLOGY OF CIRCADIAN TIMING 199 :305-336 ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Conference presentation:
Timed Exercise as a Tool to Improve Aberrant Circadian Function, Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, Prague, Czechia, Invited Oral Slide Presentation, https://sltbr.org/. 2024
Circadian Dynamics in an in vitro model of Cutaneous Wound Repair, Gordon Research Conference Chronobiology, Lewiston, Maine, USA, Poster, https://www.grc.org/chronobiology-conference/2023/. 2023
MicroRNA-29 Family and Circadian Regulation of Cutaneous Wound Repair, 28th International Conference of the RNA Society, Singapore, Poster presentation. 2023
Circadian Dynamics in an In Vitro Model of Cutaneous Wound Repair, UK Clock Club Spring Meeting, University of Surrey, Poster presentation. 2023
External PGR examinations performed:
University of Liverpool, PhD, Tissue-specific bi-directional interactions between antioxidant transcription factor NRF2 and the circadian molecular clock: the effects of age, pharmacological drugs and environmental light disruption. 2023
University of Warwick, PhD, Characterisation of a novel transgenic mouse for tissue- and cell-specific recording of circadian rhythms. 2022
Editorial boards:
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, Review Editor - Editorial Board Member. 2020
Teaching qualification:
PGCertLTHE. 2019
External collaboration:
University of Liverpool, Dr Vanja Pekovic-Vaughan. 2019
Research Grants Awarded:
The Physiological Society, Running out of time: Exercise, skeletal muscle and the circadian system, Grant value (£): 10000, Duration of research project: 42 Months. 2018
Fellowships:
Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Manchester. 2017