Fiona Knapman

Current Appointments

Research Assistant

Key Research Areas

Sleep Disorders

Breathing

Sleep apnoea

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9939 1843

Fiona is a biomedical engineer working on two large-scale sleep apnea studies, led by Professor Lynne Bilston. These projects aim to investigate how the upper airway muscles work to stay open during sleep and whether these mechanisms are influenced by the electrical activity in the muscles, the sensation in the airway, and/or the size and shape of the muscles. The group is also examining whether or not new magnetic resonance imaging methods can predict whether a mandibular advancement splint will be an effective treatment for individuals suffering from obstructive sleep apnea prior to them committing to an expensive custom splint and lengthy trial time.

Publications

2023, 11 Dec

Direct optogenetic activation of upper airway muscles in an acute model of upper airway hypotonia mimicking sleep onset

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsad226

2023 Dec

Regional associations between inspiratory tongue dilatory movement and genioglossus activity during wakefulness in people with obstructive sleep apnoea

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1113/JP285187

2023, 01 May

Optogenetic Control of Muscles: Potential Uses and Limitations

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/hum.2022.236

2022, 13 Jun

The relationship between mandibular advancement, tongue movement, and treatment outcome in obstructive sleep apnea

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac044

2022, 01 Feb

Task-dependent neural control of regions within human genioglossus

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00478.2021

2021, 10 Dec

Effect of upper airway fat on tongue dilation during inspiration in awake people with obstructive sleep apnea

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab192

2021, 09 Apr

Mandibular advancement splint response is associated with the pterygomandibular raphe

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa222

2021, 12 Mar

Influence of mandibular advancement on tongue dilatory movement during wakefulness and how this is related to oral appliance therapy outcome for obstructive sleep apnea

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa196

2020, 14 Apr

Nocturnal swallowing augments arousal intensity and arousal tachycardia

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907393117

2020 Feb

Regional respiratory movement of the tongue is coordinated during wakefulness and is larger in severe obstructive sleep apnoea

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1113/JP278769

View all publications

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