My profile

Biography

I have been a Senior Lecturer here at Manchester Metropolitan University in Haematology & Transfusion Medicine since 2013.

I teach across the undergraduate, postgraduate and Clinical Doctorate programmes, covering a range of topics including, Anaemias, Haematological Malignancies, Blood Group Compatibility Testing, Transfusion-Transmitted Infections and Transfusion Reactions. 

Pathway Lead for MSc Clinical Science - Haematology and Transfusion

Pathway Lead for DClinSCi -Haematology and Transfusion

Interests and expertise

Research Interests in the utility of haematological markers in the prognostication and management of critically ill patients. Sepsis and major burns are two specific cohorts of critical illness that particularly interest me.

Projects

Currently funded by NHSBT - PhD studentship entitled, Anovel, point-of-care (PoC), multi-analyte device for the detection of inflammation in deceased organ donors and its impact on transplant recipient outcomes.

Working with Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on a project entitled, Improving outcomes in critically ill burns patients.

Teaching

Undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Haematology and Transfusion Medicine :

Haematopoiesis, Anaemias, Haematological Malignancies, Blood Grouping, Transfusion Reactions, Transfusion-Transmitted Infections.

SUPERVISION

Postgraduate Research

Supervision of MRes, PhD and DClinSci Students.

Self-funded MRes and PhD students are encouraged to get in touch to discuss potential project opportunities.  

Research outputs

My research focuses on the utility of haematological markers in the prognostication and management of critically ill patients. Sepsis and major burns are two specific cohorts of critical illness that particularly interest me. 

My work has involved identifying novel haematological markers with significant predictive value in these cohorts, as well as developing technology for the rapid analysis of such markers at point-of-care. This has also extended into the area of organ donation research, with the aim of being able to rapidly assess the immunological status of deceased organ donors and hence assess organ quality to ultimately predict transplant success in the organ recipient.

Journal Articles:

Fu MX, Ingram J, Roberts C, Nurmi V, Watkins E, Dempsey N, et al. (2024). Blood donation screening for hepatitis B virus core antibodies: The importance of confirmatory testing and initial implication for rare blood donor groups. Vox Sang. 1-13

George CE, Saunders CV, Morrison A, Scorer T, Jones S, Dempsey NC. (2023). Cold stored platelets in the management of bleeding: is it about bioenergetics? Platelets. 34(1):2188969. doi: 10.1080/09537104.2023.2188969. PMID: 36922733.

Tridente A, Dempsey NC, Khalifa M, Goddard J, Shuker K, Hall J, Sorour Y, Wright J, Webber S, Mills GH, Snowden JA. (2023). Predicting outcomes of hematological malignancy patients admitted to critical care. Frontiers in Hematology. In Press.

Cappuyns L, Tridente A, Stubbington Y, Dempsey-Hibbert NC, Shokrollahi K. (2023). Review of Burn Resuscitation: Is Plasmalyte® a Comparable Alternative to Ringer’s Lactate? J Burn Care Res. 5;44(1):81-86. 

Zhang X, Han L, Sobeih T, Han L, Dempsey N, Lechareas S, Tridente A, Chen H, White S, Zhang D. (2023). CXR-Net: A Multitask Deep Learning Network for Explainable and Accurate Diagnosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia from Chest X-ray Images. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. Nov 9;PP. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2022.3220813. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36350854.

Crapnell RD, Garcia-Mirranda Ferrari A, Dempsey NC, Banks CE (2022). Electroanalytical overview: screen-printed electrochemical sensing platforms for the detection of vital cardiac, cancer and inflammatory biomarkers.  Sensors and Diagnostics. 1, 405-428.

Crapnell RD, Dempsey NC, Sigley E, Tridente A, Banks CE. (2022). Electroanalytical point-of-care detection of gold standard and emerging cardiac biomarkers for stratification and monitoring in intensive care medicine - a review. Mikrochim Acta. 12;189(4):142. 

Rhys J. Williams, Robert D. Crapnell, Nina C. Dempsey, Marloes Peeters, Craig E. Banks. (2022). Nano-molecularly imprinted polymers for serum creatinine sensing using the heat transfer method, Talanta Open. 5,100087.

Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J.; Dempsey-Hibbert, N.; Liauw, C.M.; Whitehead, K.A. The Effect of Human Blood Plasma Conditioning Films on Platelet Transfusion Bag Surface Properties. Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 11358. 

Graham RLJ, McMullen AA, Moore G, Dempsey-Hibbert NC, Myers B, Graham C. SWATH-MS identification of CXCL7, LBP, TGFβ1 and PDGFRβ as novel biomarkers in human systemic mastocytosis. Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 24;12(1):5087. 

Svenson N, Bailey J, Durairaj S, Dempsey-Hibbert N. A simplified diagnostic pathway for the differential diagnosis of iron deficiency anaemia and anaemia of chronic disease. Int J Lab Hematol. 2021 Dec;43(6):1644-1652.

Crapnell RD, Jesadabundit W, Garcia-Miranda Ferrari A, Dempsey-Hibbert, NC; Peeters M, Tridente A, Chailapakul O & Banks, CE. (2021). Towards the Rapid Diagnosis of Sepsis: Detecting Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in blood plasma using functionalised screen-printed electrodes with a thermal detection methodology. Analytical Chemistry. 13;93(14):5931-5938.

Crapnell RD, Tridente A, Banks CE & Dempsey-Hibbert NC. Evaluating the Possibility of Translating Technological Advances in Non-Invasive Continuous Lactate Monitoring into Critical Care. Sensors. (2021). 21, 879. 

El Mohtadi M, Whitehead K, Dempsey-Hibbert N, Belboul A, Ashworth J. Estrogen deficiency - a central paradigm in age-related impaired healing? EXCLI J. (2021);20 99-116. doi:10.17179/excli2020-3210. PMID: 33510594; PMCID: PMC7838826. 

Crapnell, RD, Dempsey-Hibbert, NC, Peeters M, Tridente A & Banks, CE. Molecularly imprinted polymer based electrochemical biosensors: Overcoming the challenges of detecting vital biomarkers and speeding up diagnosis. Talanta Open. (2020). 2:100018. 

El Mohtadi M, Pilkington L, Liauw CM, Ashworth JJ, Dempsey-Hibbert, NC, Belboul A & Whitehead KA. Differential engulfment of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by monocyte-derived macrophages is associated with altered phagocyte biochemistry and morphology. EXCLI Journal. (2020);19:1372-1384. 

Wilson-Nieuwenhuis J, El-Mohtadi M, Edwards K, Whitehead K, Dempsey-Hibbert N. Factors Involved in the onset of infection following bacterially contaminated platelet transfusions. Platelets. (2020) Aug 7:1-10. 

Jones N, Tridente A & Dempsey-Hibbert NC. (2020). Immature platelet indices alongside procalcitonin for sensitive and specific identification of bacteremia in the intensive care unit. Platelets. 32(7):941-949. 

Hickey, N., Shalamanova., L., Whitehead, K., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., Van der Gast, C., and Taylor, R. (2020). Exploring the putative interactions between chronic kidney disease and chronic periodontitis. Critical Reviews in Microbiology. 46(1):61-77. 

Ali, I., Graham, C. & Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C. (2019). Immature Platelet Fraction as a useful marker in the aetiological determination of Thrombocytopenia. Experimental Hematology. 78:56-61. 

Davidson S,J, Pilkington, L.I., Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C., El Mohtadi, M., Tang, S., Wainwright, T., Whitehead, K.A. & Barker. D. (2018). Modular Synthesis and Biological Investigation of 5‑Hydroxymethyl Dibenzyl Butyrolactones and Related Lignans. Molecules. 23(12):3057. 

Greenhalgh R., Dempsey-Hibbert, N. and Whitehead K. A. (2019) Antimicrobial Strategies and Economic Considerations for Polymeric Medical Implants. International Journal of Biodeterioration and Biodegradation. 136: 1-14. 

Slate, A.J., Wickens, D., Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., West, G., Kelly, P., Verran, J., Banks, C.E. & Whitehead, K.A. (2019). The effects of blood conditioning films on the antimicrobial and retention properties of zirconium-nitride silver surfaces. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 173: 303-311. 

Binsaleh, N.K., Wigley, C.A., Whitehead, K.A., van Rensburg, M., Reynisson, J., Pilkington, L.I.,  Barker, D., Jones, S. & Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C.. (2018). Thieno[2,3-b]pyridine derivatives are potent anti-platelet drugs, inhibiting platelet activation, aggregation and showing synergy with aspirin, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 143: 1997-2004. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2017.11.014. 

Saubade, F.J., Hughes, S., Wickens, D.J., Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., Crowther, G.S., West, G., Kelly, P., Banks, C.E., & Whitehead, K.A. (2018). Effectiveness of titanium nitride silver coatings against Staphylococcus spp. in the presence of BSA and whole blood conditioning films. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation. 141: 44-51. 

McBrearty, J., Barker, D.,Damavandi, M., Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J., Pilkington, L. I., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., Slate, A. J. and Whitehead, K. A.  (2018) Antimicrobial synergy of cationic grafted poly(para-phenylene ethynylene) and poly(para-phenylene vinylene) compounds with UV or metal ions against Enterococcus faecium. RSc Advances. 8, 23433. DOI: 10.1039/c8ra02673d. 

Slate, A., Wickens, D.J., Mohtadi, M.E., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., Banks, C., & Whitehead, K. (2018). Antimicrobial activity of Ti-ZrN/Ag coatings for use in biomaterial applications. Scientific Reports. 8:1497 DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-20013-z OA. 

Damavandi, M., Pilkington, L., Whitehead, K., Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J. McBreaty, J., Dempsey-Hibbert, N., Travis-Sejdic, J., & Barker, D., (2017). Poly(para-Phenylene Ethynylene) (PPE)- and Poly(para-Phenylene Vinylene) (PPV)-Poly[(2-(Methacryloyloxy)Ethyl) Trimethylammonium Chloride] (PMETAC) graft copolymers exhibit selective antimicrobial activity. European Polymer Journal. 98. 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2017.11.044. 

Wilson-Nieuwenhuis, J, Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C., Liauw, C & Whitehead, K.A. (2017). Surface modification of platelet concentrate bags to reduce biofilm formation and transfusion sepsis. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 160. 10.1016/j.colsurfb.09.019. 

Lee SL, Dempsey-Hibbert NC, Vimalachandran D, Wardle TD, Sutton PA, & Williams, J.H.H. (2017). Re-examining HSPC1 inhibitors. Cell Stress and Chaperones. 22:293–306. 

Tridente, A., Smith, E., Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C., Bonney, S & Nee, P. (2015). The implementation of a blood conservation strategy in critical care on transfusion requirements. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental. 2015 3(Suppl 1):A822. 

Dempsey, N.C., Ireland, H.E., Smith, C.M., Hoyle, C.F. & Williams, J.H.H. (2010). Heat Shock Protein translocation induced by membrane fluidization increases tumor-cell sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs. Cancer Letters. 296 (2): 256-267. 

Dempsey, N.C., Leoni, F., Ireland, H.E., Hoyle, C., & Williams, J.H.H. (2010). Differential Heat Shock Protein Localization in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 87 (2) 467-476. 

Chapters in Books:

Lee S.L., Dempsey-Hibbert N.C., Vimalachandran D., Wardle T.D., Sutton P.A., Williams J.H.H. (2018) Primary Colorectal Cells Culture as a Translational Research Model. In: Calderwood S., Prince T. (eds) Chaperones. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1709. Humana Press, New York, NY.

Lee, S.L., Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C., Vimalachandran, D., Wardle, T.D., Sutton, P. & Williams, J.H.H. (2015). Targeting Heat Shock Proteins in Colorectal Cancer. In. Asea A.A., & Calderwood, S.K. (Eds). Heat Shock Proteins (1st ed., pp345-379). Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-17210-1.

Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C., (2015). Analysis of Phosphorylated Protein Kinases in Endothelial Cells by Flow Cytometry. In M. Slevin & G. McDowell (Eds.). Handbook of Vascular Biology Techniques. (1st ed., pp 465-474). Netherlands: Springer. ISBN 978-94-017-9715-3.

Dempsey-Hibbert, N.C. Hoyle, C. & Williams, J.H.H. (2012). Heat shock proteins in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: Prognostic and therapeutic implications. In P. Oppezzo (Ed.) Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. Intech Open Access Publisher. ISBN 978-953-307-699-7.

Dempsey, N.C., Leoni, F.L., Hoyle, C.F. & Williams, J.H.H. (2011). Analysis of Heat Shock Protein Localisation using Flow Cytometry. In S. K. Calderwood & T. L. Price (Eds.). Methods in Molecular Biology. Molecular Chaperones: Methods & Protocols. (1st ed., pp. 155-164). New York, USA: Humana Press. ISBN 978-1-61779-294-6.