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Institute of Metabolic Science

Metabolic Research Laboratories
 

I am an endocrinologist with a wide interest in the action of hormones and how they can be perturbed in human disease states.  My current activities are in three broad areas:

a) Insulin action/insulin resistance and related metabolic disease (funded by Wellcome). David Savage is a long term close collaborator in this area and our labs are gradually becoming more closely integrated

b) Disorders of appetite/eating including obesity, broader aspects of the leptin-melanocortin axis and Pregnancy Sickness and its relation to GDF15, funded by MRC in a Unit Programme which I co-lead with Tony Coll and Giles Yeo

c) the control of body composition and its disturbance in diseases such as cachexia (funded by the MRC Unit Programme and the Cancer Grand Challenge fund (with Tony Coll).  Much of what we do is informed by human genetics, and in that I benefit greatly from long-standing close collaborative interactions with John Perry, Ken Ong and Nick Wareham. The group takes a multidisciplinary approach to all these problems ranging from fundamental research in cells and murine models through to human genetic studies, recall-by-genotype human physiological studies (with Maria Chondronikola) and we are now planning clinical trials in selected areas. 

Within the IMS I am Director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit (2013-2029) and Principal Investigator of the Wellcome Discovery Research Platform, Integrating Metabolic and Endocrine Sciences (2024-2031).  

Harveian Oration “Some observations on the causes and consequences of obesity” given in 2016. 


Personal Assistant 

Mrs Carole Smith - cjs54 at medschl.cam.ac.uk  


Group members:

Irene Cimino (Research Associate, MRC MDU with Coll and Yeo) - ic326 at medschl.cam.ac.uk  

Katie Duckett (PhD Student & Research Assistant) - kd464 at medschl.cam.ac.uk  

Joe Gafton (Clinical Research Associate/PhD Student) -   

Sam Lockhart, visiting researcher - sl908 at medschl.cam.ac.uk 

Sinead McGlacken-Byrne, Clinical Research Fellow (also at UCL) - sm2747 at cam.ac.uk 

Kara Rainbow (Research Assistant, MRC MDU with Coll and Yeo) - kh271 at medschl.cam.ac.uk  

Nuno Rocha (Research Associate) - nr323 at medschl.cam.ac.uk  

Joanne Shen (Research Associate with Coll)  - js2901 at medschl.cam.ac.uk 

Loraine Tung (Senior Research Associate, MRC MDU with Coll and Yeo) - lyct2 at medschl.cam.ac.uk 

Xue Li Wong (PhD student) - xlw23 at medschl.cam.ac.uk 


Funding

MRC 

CRUK 

Wellcome 

Publications

Key publications: 

Full publication list on PubMed 

Fejzo M, Rocha N, Cimino I, Lockhart SM, Petry CJ, Kay RG, Burling K, Barker P, George AL, Yasara N, Premawardhena A, Gong S, Cook E, Rimmington D, Rainbow K, Withers DJ, Cortessis V, Mullin PM, MacGibbon KW, Jin E, Kam A, Campbell A, Polasek O, Tzoneva G, Gribble FM, Yeo GSH, Lam BYH, Saudek V, Hughes IA, Ong KK, Perry JRB, Sutton Cole A, Baumgarten M, Welsh P, Sattar N, Smith GCS, Charnock-Jones DS, Coll AP, Meek CL, Mettananda S, Hayward C, Mancuso N & O’Rahilly S. GDF15 linked to maternal risk of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Nature 2023; doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06921-9. PMCID: PMC10808057. PMID: 38092039

 

Gautheron J, Elsayed S, Pistorio V, Lockhart S, Zammouri J, Auclair M, Koulman A, Meadows SR, Lhomme M, Ponnaiah M, Si-Bouazza R, Fabrega S, Belkadi A, Qatar Genome Project, Delaunay J-L, Aït-Slimane T, Fève B, Vigouroux C, Abdel Ghaffar TY, O’Rahilly S, Jéru I. ADH1B, the adipocyte-enriched alcohol dehydrogenase, plays an essential, cell-autonomous role in human adipogenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2024;121:e2319301121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2319301121. PMCID: PMC11181076. PMID: 38838011

 

Al-Sawaf O, Weiss J, Skrzypski M, Lam JM, Karasaki T, Zambrana F, Kidd AC, Frankell AM, Watkins TBK, Martínez-Ruiz C, Puttick C, Black JRM, Huebner A, Bakir MA, Sokač M, Collins S, Veeriah S, Magno N, Naceur-Lombardelli C, Prymas P, Toncheva A, Ward S, Jayanth N, Salgado R, Bridge CP, Christiani DC, Mak RH, Bay C, Rosenthal M, Sattar N, Welsh P, Liu Y, Perrimon N, Popuri K, Beg MF, McGranahan N, Hackshaw A, Breen DM, O'Rahilly S, Birkbak NJ, Aerts HJWL; TRACERx Consortium; Jamal-Hanjani M, Swanton C. Body composition and lung cancer-associated cachexia in TRACERx. Nat Med 2023;29:846-858. doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02232-8. PMCID: PMC7614477. PMID: 37045997

 

Gardner EJ, Kentistou KA, Stankovic S, Lockhart S, Wheeler E, Day FR, Kerrison ND, Wareham NJ, Langenberg C, O'Rahilly S, Ong KK, Perry JRB. Damaging missense variants in IGF1R implicate a role for IGF-1 resistance in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Cell Genom 2022;2. doi:10.1016/j.xgen.2022.100208. PMCID: PMC9750938. PMID: 36530175

 

Lam BYH, Williamson A, Finer S, Day FR, Tadross JA, Gonçalves Soares A, Wade K, Sweeney P, Bedenbaugh MN, Porter DT, Melvin A, Ellacott KLJ, Lippert RN, Buller S, Rosmaninho-Salgado J, Dowsett GKC, Ridley KE, Xy Z, Cimino I, Rimmington D, Rainbow K, Duckett K, Holmqvist S, Khan A, Dai , Bochukova EG; Genes & Health Research Team, Trembath RC, Martin HC, Coll AP, Rowditch DH, Wareham NJ, van Heel DA, Timpson N, Simerly RB, Ong KK, Cone RD, Langenberg C, Perry JRB, Yeo GS, O’Rahilly S. MC3R links nutritional state to childhood growth and the timing of puberty.  Nature. 2021 Nov 3. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04088-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34732894

Cimino I, Kim H, Tung YCL, Pedersen K, Rimmington D, Tadross JA, Kohnke SN, Neves-Costa A, Barros A, Joaquim S, Bennett D, Melvin A, Lockhart SM, Rostron AJ, Scott J, Liu H, Burling K, Barker P, Clatworthy MR, Lee EC, Simpson AJ, Yeo GSH, Moita LF, Bence KK, Jørgensen SB, Coll AP, Breen DM, O’Rahilly S. Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by exogenous and endogenous GD15. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Jul 6;118(27):e2106868118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2106868118. PMID: 34187898; PMCID: PMC8271778 

Wade KH, Lam BYH, Melvin A, Pan W, Corbin LJ, Hughes DA, Rainbow K, Chen JH, Duckett K, Liu X, Mokrosiński J, Mörseburg A, Neaves S, Willaimson A, Zhang C, Farooqi IS, Yeo GSH, Timpson NJ, O’Rahilly S. Loss-of-function mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor in a UK birth cohort. Nat Med. 2021 May 27. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01349-y.  PMID: 34045736.   

Melvin A, Chantzichristos D, Kyle CJ, MacKenzie S, Walker BR, Johannsson G, Stimson RH, O’Rahilly S. GDF15 is elevated in conditions of glucocorticoid deficiency and is modulated by glucocorticoid replacement. JCEM 2019;105:dgz277. doi:10.1210/clinem/dgz277. PMID: 31853550   PMCID: PMC7105349 

Coll AP*, Chen M, Taskar P, Rimmington D, Patel S, Tadross JA, Cimino I, Yang M, Welsh P, Virtue S, Goldspink DA, Miedzybrodzka EL, Konopka AR, Esponda RR, Huang JT, Tung YCL, Rodriguez-Cuenca S, Tomaz RA, Harding HP, Melvin A, Yeo GSH, Preiss D, Vidal-Puig A, Vallier L, Nair KS, Wareham NJ, Ron D, Gribble FM, Reimann F, Sattar N, Savage DB, Allan BB, O’Rahilly S*. GDF15 mediates the effects of metformin on body weight and energy balance.  Nature 2020;578:E24. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2031-4. PMID:32051582    (*co-corresponding authors). 

Patel S, Alvarez-Guaita A, Melvin A, Rimmington D, Dattilo A, Miedzybrodzka EL, Cimino I, Maurin AC, Roberts GP, Meek CL, Virtue S, Sparks LM, Parsons SA, Redman LM, Bray GA, Liou AP, Woods RM, Parry SA, Jeppesen PB, Kolnes AJ, Harding HP, Ron D, Vidal-Puig A, Reimann F, Gribble FM, Hulston CJ, Farooqi IS, Fafournoux P, Smith SR, Jensen J, Breen D, Wu Z, Zhang BB, Coll AP, Savage DB, O’Rahilly S.  GDF15 Provides an Endocrine Signal of Nutritional Stress in Mice and Humans. Cell Metab. 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.12.016. PMID: 30639358. PMCID: PMC6408327 

Polex-Wolf J, Lam BY, Larder R, Tadross J, Rimmington D, Bosch F, Cenzano VJ, Ayuso E, Ma MK, Rainbow K, Coll AP, O’Rahilly S, Yeo GS. Hypothalamic loss of Snord116 recapitulates the hyperphagia of Prader-Willi syndrome. J Clin Invest. 2018 Jan 29. pii: 97007. doi: 10.1172/JCI97007. PMID: 29376887

Larder R, Sim MFM, Gulati P, Antrobus R, Tung YCL, Rimmington D, Ayuso E, Polex-Wolf J, Lam BYH, Dias C, Logan DW, Virtue S, Bosch F, Geo GSH, Saudek V, O’Rahilly S, Coll AP. Obesity-associated gene TMEM18 has a role in the central control of appetite and body weight-regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Aug 15. pii: 201707310. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1707310114. PMID: 28811369. PMCID: PMC5584443 

Lotta LA, Gulati P, Day FR, Payne F, Ongen H, van de Bunt M, Gaulton KJ, Eicher JD, Sharp SJ, Luan J, De Lucia Rolfe E, Stewart ID, Wheeler E, Willems SM, Adams C, Yaghootkar H; EPIC-InterAct Consortium.; Cambridge FPLD1 Consortium., Forouhi NG, Khaw KT, Johnson AD, Semple RK, Frayling T, Perry JR, Dermitzakis E, McCarthy MI, Barroso I, Wareham NJ, Savage DB, Langenberg C, O’Rahilly S, Scott RA. Integrative genomic analysis implicates limited peripheral adipose storage capacity in the pathogenesis of human insulin resistance. Nat Genet. 2016 14. doi: 10.1038/ng.3714. PMID: 27841877. PMCID: PMC5774584 

Raffan E, Dennis RJ, O’Donovan CJ, Becker JM, Scott RA, Smith SP, Withers DJ, Wood CJ, Conci E, Clements DN, Summers KM, German AJ, Mellersh CS, Arendt ML, Iyemere VP, Withers E, Söder J, Wernersson S, Andersson G, Lindblad-Toh K, Yeo GS, O’Rahilly S. A Deletion in the Canine POMC Gene Is Associated with Weight and Appetite in Obesity-Prone Labrador Retriever Dogs. Cell Metab. 2016 May 10;23(5):893-900. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.04.012. Epub 2016 May 3. PMID: 27157046; PMCID: PMC4873617

Dalgaard K, Landgraf K, Heyne S, Lempradl A, Longinotto J, Gossens K, Ruf M, Orthofer M, Strogantsev R, Selvaraj M, Lu TT, Casas E, Teperino R, Surani MA, Zvetkova I, Rimmington D, Tung YC, Lam B, Larder R, Yeo GS, O’Rahilly S, Vavouri T, Whitelaw E, Penninger JM, Jenuwein T, Cheung CL, Ferguson-Smith AC, Coll AP, Körner A, Pospisilik JA. Trim28 Haploinsufficiency Triggers Bi-stable Epigenetic Obesity. Cell. 2016 Jan 28;164(3):353-64. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.025. PMID: 26824653; PMCID: PMC4735019

Van der Klaauw AA, Keogh JM, Henning E, Stephenson C, Kelway S, Trowse VM, Subramanian N, O’Rahilly S, Fletcher PC, Farooqi IS. Divergent effects of central melanocortin signalling on fat and sucrose preference in humans. Nat Commun. 2016 Oct 4;7:13055. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13055. PMID:27701398. PMCID: PMC5059464 

Tung YC, Gulati P, Liu CH, Rimmington D, Dennis R, Ma M, Saudek V, O’Rahilly S, Coll AP, Yeo GS. FTO is necessary for the indication of leptin resistance by high-fat feeding.  Mol Metab 2015; 4(4):287-98. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2015.01.011. eCollection 2015. PMID: 25830092. PMCID: PMC4354923 

Simonds SE, Pryor JT, Ravussin E, Greenway FL, Dileone R, Allen AM, Bassi J, Elmquist JK, Keogh JM, Henning E, Myers MG Jr, Licinio J, Brown RD, Enriori PJ, O’Rahilly S, Sternson SM, Grove KL, Spanswick DC, Farooqi IS, Cowley MA. Leptin mediates the increase in blood pressure associated with obesity.  Cell 2014; 159(6):1404-16.  doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.058.  PMID:25480301 

Payne F, Colnaghi R, Rocha N, Seth A, Harris J, Carpenter G, Bottomley WE, Wheeler E, Wong S, Saudek V, Savage D, O’Rahilly S, Carel JC, Barroso I, O’Driscoll M, Semple R. Hypomorphism in human NSMCE2 linked to primordial dwarfism and insulin resistance.  J Clin Invest 2014; 124(9):4028-38.  doi: 10.1172/JCI73264. PMID:2510536 PMCID: PMC4151221 

Grosse J, Heffron H, Burling K, Akhter Hossain M, Habib AM, Rogers GJ, Richards P, Larder R, Rimmington D, Adriaenssens AA, Parton L, Powell J, Binda M, Colledge WH, Doran J, Toyoda Y, Wade JD, Aparicio S, Carlton MB, Coll AP, Reimann F, O’Rahilly S, Gribble FM. Insulin-like peptide 5 is an orexigenic gastrointestinal hormone.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014; 111(30):11133-8.  doi: 0.1073/pnas.1411413111. PMID: 25028498 PMCID: PMC4121845 

Payne F, Lim K, Girousse A, Brown RJ, Kory N, Robbins A, Xue Y, Sleigh A, Cochran E, Adams C, Dev Borman A, Russel-Jones D, Gorden P, Semple RK, Saudek V, O’Rahilly S, Walther TC, Barroso I, Savage DB. Mutations disrupting the Kennedy phosphatidylcholine pathway in humans with congenital lipodystrophy and fatty liver disease.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014; 111(24):8901-6.  doi: 10.1073/pnas.1408523111. PMID: 24889630 PMCID: PMC4066527 

Pearce LR, Atanassova N, Banton MC, Bottomley B, van der Klaauw AA, Revelli JP, Hendricks A, Keogh JM, Henning E, Doree D, Jeter-Jones S, Garg S, Bochukova EG, Bounds R, Ashford S, Gayton E, Hindmarsh PC, Shield JP, Crowne E, Barford D, Wareham NJ; UK10K consortium, O’Rahilly S, Murphy MP, Powell DR, Barroso I, Farooqi IS. KSR2 mutations are associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and impaired cellular fuel oxidation.  Cell 2013; 155(4):765-77. PMID: 24209692 PMCID: PMC3898740 

Director, MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit
Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
Wellcome Investigator
Fellow, Pembroke College, Cambridge
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Pembroke College