MDR academics successful in the latest round of academic promotions

The Department of Metabolism, Digestion & Reproduction is proud to have eight of its staff recognised in the latest round of Academic Promotions.

Congratulations to Lynne Sykes, Ali Abbara, Elizabeth Want, and Alejandra Tomas Catala who have all been promoted to Reader. Congratulations to Edward Chambers, who has been promoted to Senior Lecturer. And, finally, congratulations to Pinelopi Manousou, Roshni Patel and Horace Williams who have all been promoted to Professor of Practice

Speaking about the promotions, the Head of the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Professor Mark Thursz said: "Congratulations to each of my newly promoted colleagues. Your dedication and hard work is truly commendable, and you all deserve this recognition. I am particularly pleased to see our Department grow with an increasing representation of senior female academics."

We spoke with some of our newly promoted researchers to find out about their background, research and how they feel about their promotion.

Elizabeth Want, Reader in Clinical Mass Spectrometry

I completed my PhD in Clinical Biochemistry at King’s College London, where my passion for metabolic profiling and mass spectrometry first began. I then undertook a 5-year postdoctoral research position at the Scripp’s Research Institute in San Diego, CA, which was a very exciting time, as I was part of a great team in the newly emerging area of Metabolomics. Together we pioneered data analysis and software tools which are still used in the field of Metabolomics today. I joined Imperial College London in 2006 as a postdoctoral researcher with Jeremy Nicholson, leading the mass spectrometry efforts in his group. I then became a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the same group, growing my own research team and interests. My research focusses on improving molecular assays for clinical studies, through the measurement of small molecules, lipids and proteins, ultimately leading to a deeper understanding of diseases, improved healthcare and better patient outcomes. Through my research, I have developed many assays for the targeted and untargeted measurement of metabolites in biofluids and tissues.

I have been fortunate to be involved in many multi-disciplinary projects at Imperial. A great deal of my current research concerns understanding the metabolism of brain tumours and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Together with my collaborators in the Dept of Brain Sciences and colleagues in the Division of Systems Medicine, we are working towards a Clinical Trial for a metabolic therapy for glioblastoma, namely arginine deprivation. My group's metabolomics and proteomics work has aided in understanding this devastating disease and how this therapy is potentially working.

I am thrilled that my hard work, and that of my team at Imperial, has been recognised. I am lucky to work with many enthusiastic and supportive colleagues and collaborators. As well as my research, I am heavily involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and management, training and mentorship, and it is a great feeling to be acknowledged for my contributions to the Department and the University.

Ali Abbara, Reader in Endocrinology

I am an Academic Endocrinologist and NIHR Clinician Scientist conducting research into conditions principally affecting Women’s reproductive health, including functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea (FHA), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and congenital hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (CHH), as well as into fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, ovulation induction, and miscarriage, leading to several fruitful collaborations with many colleagues across Imperial. I have a particular interest in the pivotal role of hypothalamic dysfunction in reproductive disorders, which is frequently under-recognised and rarely assessed. Accordingly, I have conducted research on the clinical utility of novel neuropeptides that regulate hypothalamic function such as Kisspeptin; this unique action enables its use to interrogate hypothalamic function and improve the diagnosis of reproductive disorders. Additionally, its role as the physiological instigator of ovulation has led to our work showing improved safety when used to induce oocyte maturation during IVF treatment. Looking forward, I aim to conduct cutting-edge research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of reproductive disorders.

I am delighted to be promoted to Reader, and I am very grateful to my colleagues and mentors for their kindness and support in making this possible. I look forward to many more collaborations and supporting the next generation of clinical academics to conduct research that will have a meaningful impact on patient care.

Lynne Sykes, Clinical Reader in Obstetrics

I am a clinician scientist, I graduated from Barts and The Royal London Medical School in 2003 and completed my training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2019. I completed my PhD researching the potential role of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins for preterm birth prevention in 2012 at Imperial, with a Wellbeing of Women Fellowship. Following this I was appointed as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow and then an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at Imperial. I currently lead the Preterm Birth Prevention service at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and hold an honorary NHS consultant contract, whilst leading a research group investigating the role of the maternal immune system in the aetiology of spontaneous preterm birth.

The broad aims of my research are to further our understanding of the role of the maternal immune system in the aetiology of spontaneous preterm birth so that we can exploit these findings to develop new and more individualised predictive tools and therapeutic strategies to reduce the rates of preterm birth and improve the health of mothers and babies. Current areas of research include specifically exploring the role of the complement system at the cervico-vaginal and maternal-fetal interface, exploring the role of ABO blood group glycans at the cervico-vaginal interface, repurposing known immunomodulators for preterm birth prevention.

Very excited and grateful for the collaborative nature of the projects I work on which contribute immensely to the professional development of the entire team in addition to the progress we are making in improving scientific knowledge. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my funders The Parasol Foundation, Imperial Health Charity, The March of Dimes and the Rosetrees Trust, as well as the support received by the Pregnancy and Prematurity Theme of the Imperial BRC and the Tommy’s PTB research centre.

Roshni Patel, Professor of Practice (Clinical) of Obstetrics & Maternal Medicine

I have an academic background in Obstetric Epidemiology, particularly in evaluating modes of delivery, patient choice and long-term outcomes. More recently, I have been involved in medical education and staff wellbeing research, specifically trying to understand the impact of witnessing traumatic obstetric events on students and staff. I am the clinical lead for a tertiary cardiac disease in pregnancy service and research maternal and neonatal outcomes relating to this. I am delighted to have been awarded this promotion and hope to continue with my academic work and form new collaborations.

Ed Chambers, Senior Lecturer

I have always been fascinated by human physiology and the intricate ways different organ systems interact. During my PhD, I explored how oral carbohydrate stimulation affects brain regions associated with reward and motor control, and how this impacts exercise performance. Afterwards, I joined Imperial as a Research Associate, where my post-doctoral work focused on the metabolic connections between dietary fibre intake, gut microbial short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and whole-body metabolism. Since becoming a Non-Clinical Lecturer, my research has primarily centred on understanding the independent and interactive effects of diet, exercise, and gut microbiota on human metabolism and the prevention of common diseases.

I have recently been a member of the UK Ageing Network (UKAN), which investigates the biological mechanisms of ageing and their impact on human health. This experience has emphasized the vital role that diet and physical activity play in maintaining health in later life. One of my newly funded projects focuses on how dietary strategies that enhance SCFA production in the gut might improve musculoskeletal health in postmenopausal women. The goal of this research is to contribute to healthier ageing and the development of targeted interventions to address the challenges of an ageing population.

I am thrilled about my promotion to Senior Lecturer and deeply grateful to my current and former PhD students, whose hard work and research outputs were crucial to my application. I feel fortunate to be part of such an inspiring and collaborative team within the Section of Nutrition. The support, guidance, and mentorship I received during the Academic Promotions process have been invaluable, and I look forward to continuing my research and contributing further to our collective success.

Alejandra Tomas Catala, Reader in Cell Biology

I am a Biochemist by training, specialising in Molecular Cell Biology. My PhD (at UCL) focused on the study of membrane remodeling controlled by calcium binding proteins. I then studied membrane and cytoskeleton remodelling during regulated insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells for my first postdoc at the University of Geneva. For my second postdoc (split between the University of Geneva and UCL), I studied in more detail the process of endocytic membrane trafficking, and how it regulates membrane receptor signalling, initially focusing on the EGF receptor in cancer cells. I then opened my lab in 2015 at Imperial to study mechanisms of signalling regulation of the glucagon receptor family, particularly those involving membrane trafficking and subdomain specification in pancreatic beta cells and other metabolically relevant cell types such as hepatocytes.

We are currently pursuing several lines of investigation, all related to how signalling from the glucagon receptor family is controlled in space and in time at the subcellular level. We are particularly interested in harnessing these mechanisms to optimise existing incretin-based therapies, or to unveil novel modes of receptor targeting for type 2 diabetes treatment. We are also investigating whether mistakes in these control mechanisms are present in a subset of diabetic patients, their impact on the development of the disease, and whether we can predict how individuals harbouring these changes will respond to existing glucagon receptor family targeting therapies.

Getting a Readership is an important boost for my research, which aims to generate a comprehensive understanding of how the glucagon receptor family and similar receptors work to control beta cell function at the molecular level. I firmly believe that these investigations will not only increase our current understanding of beta cell and receptor biology but also reveal new unexplored avenues to develop improved treatments for type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders where the glucagon receptor family plays key roles, such as obesity, cardiovascular and fatty liver disease and neurodegeneration. On a personal note, becoming a Reader represents an important stepping stone in my academic career as a principal investigator and mentor for my PhD students and other members of my laboratory.

Pinelopi Manousou, Professor of Practice (Metabolic Liver Disease)

I got involved in research, very early in my career, just after my core training. My PhD involved patients with IBD, and more specifically chemokines and chemokine receptors in mucosal epithelial cells and their regulation by Th1 and Th2 derived cytokines.

After completing my training in Gastroenterology, I was awarded an EASL Post Doc fellowship to work in the Hepatology Unit, at the Royal Free Hospital, studying ex vivo cell to cell interactions in continuous assessment of liver fibrosis progression. My PhD and Post Doc projects, allow me to be able to interpret and translate basic research and design relevant studies, like the use of digoxin as senolytic in patients with MASLD and inflammation, with Professor Gill, or our recent study of FMT in MASLD, in collaboration with Dr Mullish, Prof Marchesi, Prof Dumas and Prof Thursz, which is the perfect example of 'bench to the bedside’ research, as we are manipulating the microbiome of MASLD patients based on microbiome/ metabolomics results of large cohorts of healthy people and people with metabolic diseases.

Furthermore, during my clinical training, I was fortunate to get involved with Professor Burroughs at the Royal Free Hospital, pursuing clinical research. I have developed insight into identifying areas of improvement in Hepatology and have gained extensive experience in clinical research. I was trained in designing and conducting randomized clinical trials and I have also developed - as part of an international consortium - a novel technique for fibrosis quantification (CPA), which has been extensively published.

Working as a Consultant in Hepatology at Imperial College, over the last 9 years, I am privileged to lead the MASLD services. We have
set up a weekly MASLD research team meeting which brings together a wide spectrum of disciplines and represents the enormous benefits of collaboration with several publications, collaborative works and grant applications coming out of this group.

Also, through our work in screening for MASLD in primary care (prevalence of MASLD in T2DM patients) – Dr Roberta Forlano– we are currently shaping the screening strategy for the diabetic population in primary care. And a recent work we completed and I am particularly proud of, is the Development of a European registry across 27 centres in 7 countries for patients with Chronic Hepatitis B and MASLD.

I always believed that good clinical practice derives from excellent research.

Horace Williams, Professor of Practice (Gastroenterology)

Having trained at Imperial, and undertaken my PhD at Imperial (awarded in 2009), I was appointed as a Gastroenterology Consultant here in 2011.

I have specialist interests in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and faecal microbiota transplant (FMT), and longstanding research interests in the microbiome and metabolome. I set up the clinical FMT service at Imperial (2015), with its associated research arm, and have led and contributed to numerous national and international FMT collaboratives. My IBD research currently focuses on using large national datasets and microbiome and metabolomic techniques to investigate phenotypic differences (such as those related to ethnicity), and differences in response to commonly used treatments. I was a Clinical Director in the Trust from 2013-22. I have always had a keen interest in undergraduate and postgraduate education at Imperial, undertaking leadership roles for undergraduate years 3, 6 and BSc. I have been an educational and clinical supervisor, and Firm lead, since 2011.

With this promotion, I am delighted to have been recognised for my academic, educational and leadership roles.