In October 2018, bespoke Centre training included two-days across both Universities sites, with a focus on the Centres research platforms and technologies. The first of these days was at the University of Birmingham on “Metabolomics and Metabolism”, where students were introduced to the Centre’s facilities to measure cellular metabolism and metabolites including the Seahorse XF Analyser, the Steroid Metabolome Analysis Core (SMAC), then Metabolite Tracer Analysis Core (MTAC) and NMR spectroscopy equipment. The following day the students were introduced to the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre facility at the University of Nottingham University Park campus and were given an overview of the use of MRI in skeletal muscle research at the University of Nottingham. In the afternoon of the second day, students travelled to the University of Nottingham Royal Derby Hospital Centre where they had a tour of the Mass Spectroscopy Core, and listened to short-talks by three Centre members on their utilisation of mass-spectrometry for skeletal muscle ageing research. A networking event for Centre students and supervisors concluded this training event.
In December 2018, the students attended a bespoke training session on “Patient Public Involvement (PPI)” and research ethics, which included a talk by Prof Edward Davis (an orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital) on the clinician’s perspective on the importance of PPI. In addition, the students received training in preparing ethics applications and lay documents by Dr Jones. To ensure that Centre training is utilised and developed, following on from this introductory training in PPI, in May 2019 at the Centre’s annual workshop, the students will present posters of their research projects progress to (lay) patients and research volunteers, as well as produce a graphical abstract that is understandable to these individuals.