Dr Shelly Coe’s work on ageing populations focuses on Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurological condition which usually has an onset after 45 years. She is a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition in the Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work.
Her current work is building on a multi-author, cross-sectional study published in 2021, which sought to investigate nutrient intake and symptom severity of people with MS. What is novel about her initial research is that this was the first diet questionnaire to be placed on the UK MSRegister. As such, the results were largely impactful
For the study, Oxford Brookes University collaborated with Swansea/ UK MS Register and the publication received media and news coverage as well as new collaborations from epidemiological experts in MS research from Melbourne University.
Currently, Shelly is working on two grant research projects; one from the MS Society UK and one from the MS Research Australia funder, in total equating to approximately £250-300K.
With the current two grants, collaborations have continued to grow, including new collaborations with the University of South Carolina, Bristol University UK, Iranian Universities, Imperial College London, and Deakin University Australia.
The collaboration and collective expertise shared and built in this area brings together a multidisciplinary team all focused on the area of MS and symptom improvement.
This new collective collaboration, has just applied for the MS Society UK project award round (with Shelly as PI, awaiting results), bringing together all of expertise on a larger, impactful potential intervention study.
Shelly has co-wrote a paper in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences about the effectiveness of Vitamin D supplementation in the management of Multiple Sclerosis. For more about Shelly’s research, see her staff profile.
Shelly is also a member of the Healthy Ageing and Care Network as well as a Network Lead for the Children and Young People Network at Oxford Brookes University.
