Dr Nicholas Freestone
Associate professor
Contact
- Email: n.freestone@kingston.ac.uk
- Location: Penrhyn Road
- Faculty: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing
- School: School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry
- Department: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacy
- Personal website
About
I am an Associate Professor for Physiology and Pharmacology and Course Director for undergraduate Pharmaceutical Science degree courses at Kingston. I research in two different disciplines. The first is in bioscience and relates largely to studying calcium handling in isolated cardiac myocytes. The second relates to my interrogation of the nature of learning itself at university via pedagogic research.
As a bioscientist I ran my own BHF-funded laboratory at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge in Professor Sir Michael Berridge's Laboratory of Molecular Signalling. As a pedagogical researcher I run national workshops on teaching and learning for academic colleagues under the auspices of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS)/Royal Society of Biology (RSB).
I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA, a Fellow of the RSB and UK Educational Lead for the Physiological Society. I am the holder of the UK HEA Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award 2014/15.
Areas of specialism
- Calcium signalling in cardiac cells
- beta-adrenoceptor function in cardiac cells
- Cell culture and cell isolation
- Assessment and feedback in HE
- Flipped Lectures
- Engaging large groups in learning
- Progression and promotion in HE
- Transitions to Pedagogy
- Qualitative research methodologies for learning and teaching
Qualifications
- BSc Physiology (with Pharmacology) and Psychology
- MPhil Clinical Biochemistry
- PhD Cardiovascular Physiology
- PGCHE
Industry links
TOPRA - The Organisation of Professionals in Regulatory Affairs
APS - The Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professional membership
Senior Fellow of the HEA
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
Fellow of the Physiological Society
Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society
Research
My research has largely involved looking at the role of beta adrenoceptors in regulating single cardiac cell function. In particular I helped to characterise the role of a novel beta-AR now called the low affinity beta1-AR. This receptor is resistant to blockade by propranolol but seems to be linked to arrhythmogenesis. I am also interested in the morphological and functional differences between atrial and ventricular cardiac cells. Techniques I have used to investigate these areas have included single cell fluorescence, confocal microscopy, western blotting and biochemical assays.
I have also induced experimental forms of heart failure in experimental animals and studied the effect of novel pharmacological agents on the compromised myocardium.
In terms of pedagogical research I have extensively investigated the nature of the student experience at Kingston University, especially as it relates to the MPharm Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science degrees. I am currently investigating BME attainment in these programmes
Research student supervision
Publications
Jump to: Article | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 12.
Article
Ghosh, Anshuman, Freestone, Nicholas S, Anim-Nyame, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca I F (2017) Microvascular function in pre-eclampsia is influenced by insulin resistance and an imbalance of angiogenic mediators. Physiological Reports, 5(8), e13185. ISSN (online) 2051-817X
Anim-Nyame, Nick, Ghosh, Anshuman, Freestone, Nicholas and Arrigoni, Francesca (2015) Relationship between insulin resistance and circulating endothelial cells in pre-eclampsia. Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology, 31(10), pp. 788-791. ISSN (print) 1473-0766
Sam, C, Alhakem, H and Freestone, N.S. (2013) [Beta]-Adrenergic subtypes in chick embryonic cardiac myocytes. Proceedings of the 6th European Congress of Pharmacology, pp. 63-66.
Freestone, N. (2013) Equity in Higher Education provision: stretching the able. Proceedings Of the 6th European Congress of Pharmacology, pp. 189-192.
Sam, C.L.S., Bolton, T.B., Piper, I.T., Greenhill, D and Freestone, N.S. (2013) A novel mechanism for the genesis of arrhythmias? The role of the low affinity β1-adrenergic receptor and CGP12177 in spontaneous calcium release in rat atrial myocytes. Proceedings of the 6th European Congress of Pharmacology, pp. 75-78.
Freestone, Nicholas, Khan, Aisha and Sam, Cynthia (2012) Collaborative teaching across the 1992 divide. Proceedings STEM Annual Conference 2012,
Abdullah, A, Arrigoni, F and Freestone, N (2010) Tumour cell adhesion of endothelial cell monolayer. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 62(10), pp. 1496-1498. ISSN (print) 0022-3573
Freestone, Nicholas (2009) Drafting and acting on feedback supports student learning when writing essay assignments. Advances in Physiology Education, 33(2), pp. 98-102. ISSN (print) 1043-4046
Conference or Workshop Item
Freestone, N (2013) Differentiated learning: an update. In: HEA STEM: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2013: Where practice and pedagogy meet; 17-18 April 2013, Birmingham, UK. (Unpublished)
Freestone, Nick (2012) Teaching collaboratively across the 1992 divide. In: Educational Research Forum; 15 Jun 2012, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)
Freestone, Nicholas and Sam, Cynthia (2011) Team teaching across two very different higher education institutions: the Kingston MPharm degree. In: Scanning the Horizons: Institutional Research in a Borderless World. The 4th UK and Ireland Higher Education Institutional Research Network Conference; 16-17 Jun 2011, Kingston, U.K.. (Unpublished)
Freestone, Nicholas and Sam, Cynthia (2011) Unpalatable truths about institutional research: when doing the right thing costs. In: Scanning the Horizons: Institutional Research in a Borderless World. The 4th UK and Ireland Higher Education Institutional Research Network Conference; 16-17 Jun 2011, Kingston, U.K.. (Unpublished)