Samuel Bestall
University of Nottingham, UK

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.102.14

I am a final year PhD student at the University of Nottingham investigating mechanisms that cause diabetic neuropathic pain and the treatment of this with vascular endothelial growth factor, supervised by Dr Lucy Donaldson and Professor David Bates. As most of my time is spent at my lab bench or doing data analysis, I was thrilled to hear about the H³ symposium specifically targeted at the pathophysiology and treatment of diabetic complications. This was an opportunity for me to get out of the lab and discuss current research being performed by others, my own PhD work, and network with some of the field experts, so I submitted an abstract and it was accepted as a poster presentation.

The day itself had a vibrant atmosphere and included a series of thought provoking and informative talks focused on each major diabetic complication. Most notable for me was the diabetic neuropathy talk from Dr Nigel Calcutt (UC San Diego), which highlighted the complexity of the disease and considerations to take into account when using animal models of diabetes. I presented my poster titled ‘A novel mechanism of peripheral sensitisation in diabetic sensory neuropathy involving RAGE and TRPV1, and the treatment with VEGF-A₁₆₅b’, which went incredibly well and I received a lot of positive feedback. In addition to featuring heavily in my thesis, Nigel’s rodent model of diabetic neuropathy formed the basis of my in vivo experimental work, so I used this opportunity to discuss the benefits and limitations of the model and receive feedback and critique on my data.

As I am shortly about to enter the writing stage of my PhD, this conference allowed me to think about my thesis and viva preparation, network, and consider my future goals. I am extremely thankful to The Physiological Society for awarding me with the best poster presentation prize and to the event organizer, Lucy Donaldson. Overall, this was a terrific day and I urge researchers to attend future symposiums and hope the events are just as successful.