After graduating with an honours degree in Biochemistry Dr Hills worked for several years as a Clinical Scientist at St Bartholomew's hospital in London. He was awarded his PhD in 2002 from the faculty of Medicine at Queen Mary University of London for his work on "The Role of Insulin-like Growth Factors in Disorders of Fetal Growth". He continued his interest in reproductive science at Imperial College London where he worked as a postdoctoral researcher before joining Middlesex in 2004 as a lecturer. Dr Hills has published many high profile original research articles on various aspects of obstetric pathology including pre-eclampsia, recurrent miscarriage, preterm labour and fetal distress as well as several articles in the area of assisted reproduction. Currently, he is research interests include investigating the role of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans on the development of placental pathology and breast cancer. Dr Hills teaches a range of topics in biomedical science including clinical biochemistry, cellular and developmental biology as well as statistical analysis. He is author of over 35 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has refereed manuscripts for a variety of journals in the area of reproduction and endocrinology.
Peer reviewed research papers
Antia IU, Mathew K, Yagnik DR, Hills FA, Shah AJ (2018). Analysis of procainamide-derived heparan sulphate disaccharides in biological samples using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2018 Jan;410(1):131-143. doi: 10.1007/s00216-017-0703-1
Rankin P, Lawlor MJ, Hills FA, Bell PG, Stevenson EJ, Cockburn E (2017). The effect of milk on recovery from repeat-sprint cycling in female team-sport athletes. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2017-0275.
Turner AN, Kilduff L, Marshall G, Phillips J, Noto A, Buttigieg C, Gondek M, Hills F, Dimitriou L (2017). Competition Intensity and Fatigue in Elite Fencing. J Strength Cond Res. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001758.
Antia IU, Yagnik DR, Pantoja Munoz L, Shah AJ, Hills FA (2017).Heparan sulfate disaccharide measurement from biological samples using pre-column derivatization, UPLC-MS and single ion monitoring. Anal Biochem 530:17-30. doi: 10.1016.
Obstetric care
Reproductive Physiology
Collins, James and Bishop, Chris and Hills, Frank and Spiegelhalter, Abbie and Cohen, Rhonda and Turner, Anthony N. (2022) A survey into the use of cognitive and behavioral priming techniques implemented by athletes to improve athletic performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research . ISSN 1064-8011 (Accepted/In press)
Low, Kaan and Hills, Frank and Roberts, Helen C. and Stordal, Britta K. (2022) Establishment and characterization of single and triple‐agent resistant osteosarcoma cell lines. Advanced Biology . (Published online first)
Difranco, Isabella and Cockburn, Emma and Dimitriou, Lygeri and Paice, Katherine and Sinclair, Scott and Faki, Tanwir and Hills, Frank and Gondek, Marcela B. and Wood, Alyssa and Wilson, Laura J. (2022) A combination of cherry juice and cold water immersion does not enhance marathon recovery compared to either treatment in isolation: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living , 4 . pp. 1-11. ISSN 2624-9367
Wilson, Laura J. and Dimitriou, Lygeri and Hills, Frank and Gondek, Marcela B. and van Wyk, Aléchia and Turek, Vlad and Rivkin, Taylor and Villiere, Alexandre and Jarvis, Paul and Miller, Stuart C. and Turner, Anthony N. and Cockburn, Emma (2021) Cold water immersion offers no functional or perceptual benefit compared to a sham intervention during a resistance training program. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 35 (10). pp. 2720-2727. ISSN 1064-8011
Wilson, Laura J. and Dimitriou, Lygeri and Hills, Frank and Gondek, Marcela B. and van Wyk, Aléchia and Turek, Vlad and Rivkin, Taylor and Villiere, Alex and Jarvis, Paul and Miller, Stuart C. and Turner, Anthony N. and Cockburn, Emma (2020) A pilot study to determine whether repeated post-exercise cryotherapy exposure augments physiological and perceptual responses to cold. In: 25th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, 28 - 30 Oct 2020, Virtual (due to Covid-19), initial venue Sevilla, Andalucia, Spain.
