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Professor Christopher Byrne PhD, FRCPath, FRCP

Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Honorary Consultant Diabetologist & Metabolic Physician

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Prof Byrne is a clinical academic metabolic physician whose principal area of research focusses on non alcoholic fatty liver disease (metabolic-associated fatty liver disease).

Prof Byrne is a leader in metabolic medicine with a research focus on diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). His research spans epidemiology to basic mechanisms and innovative clinical trials. His expertise was recognised in 2019 when he was ranked 7th in the world and first amongst UK-based researchers for NAFLD research between 2009 and 2019. A good example is his pivotal work that provided key evidence for the NICE NAFLD Guideline (ng49) in 2016 showed that omega-3 fatty acid treatment of NAFLD fails to improve the condition in all patients (2014), in part, because non-responders possess the PNPLA3 148MM genotype. Another example of his work in the field was to show that synbiotic treatment improved intestinal microbiota but not liver disease in patients with NAFLD (2020).

His work on the cost effectiveness of different NHS models for establishing a Genetic testing service for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) facilitated him developing with colleagues the first in England NHS service, for FH Genetic testing that is located at University Hospital Southampton.

Prof Byrne was the Inaugural Director of the Southampton NIHR Clinical Research Facility. He has supervised 18 PhD/MD researchers and has used his leadership across the globe to disseminate emerging knowledge on NAFLD. His research leadership, has been recognised by a number of prestigious awards including the Fournier Lipidology Award, British Hyperlipidaemia Association and Parke Davis/Pfizer Award, the John French Lectureship award, the Eli Lilly Award and the Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture Award. The strong translational direction of his research led to his selection as a NICE Expert Advisor, original member of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes NAFLD Study group, the PANNASH group of international experts and President of the Metabolic/Cardiovascular/Lipids Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Achievements

MRC Training Fellow 1990-92
Pfizer Academic Travel Award 1991
Peel Trust Travelling Fellow 1992-93
Cambridge University/Parke Davis Travelling Fellow 1993-94
MRC Fellow 1994-99
Fournier Lipidology Award 1999
British Hyperlipidaemia Association & Parke Davis/Pfizer Award 1999
John French Lectureship 1999
Eli Lilly Award 2000
Membership Association of Physicians 2003
Dorothy Hodgkin Award Diabetes UK 2012
President RSM Lipids, Metabolism and Vascular Risk section (2013 - 2016 )

Qualifications

MB BCh University of Wales (medicine honours) (1983),
PhD University of Cambridge (1992), FRCP UK (2000), FRCPath UK (2002)

Appointments held

MRC Training Fellow, University Depts of Clin Biochem & Medicine, Postgraduate student Downing College Cambridge 1989-1992
Senior Registrar Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital 1991-1992
Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California USA, 1992-1994
MRC Fellow, Hon Consultant Physician, & Senior Research Associate, Depts of Clinical Biochemistry & Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge 1994-1999
Director Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Southampton University Hospitals Trust, 4/1999 to 10/2003

Research

Responsibilities

Publications

Teaching

Contact

Research interests

Professor Byrne’s research career began in 1989 supported by an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship at Cambridge University. Supervised by the late Professor Nick Hales, his PhD studying liver lipid metabolism was awarded in 1992. In 1992 he was awarded a Visiting Fellowship to study as a post-doctoral scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine, California.

He completed clinical training and was appointed Consultant in Metabolic medicine at Addenbrooke’s hospital in 1996. In 1999, Professor Byrne and his research team moved to the University of Southampton.

The research team’s current programme is focussed on the aetiology, pathogenesis, extra-hepatic complications, and testing novel treatments for non alcoholic fatty liver disease.

(see Byrne CD, Targher G. NAFLD. J Hepatol. 2015 Apr;62(1S):S47-S64; Scorletti et al. Hepatology. 2014 Oct;60(4):1211-21 & Scorletti et al Gastroenterology. 2020 May;158(6):1597-1610.e7.

Professor Byrne collaborates with national and international colleagues on studies related to NAFLD, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular risk factors. (Professor Sarah Wild University of Edinburgh, UK, Professors Ki-Chul Sung, Yoosoo Chang and Seungho Ryu from Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Professor Giovanni Targher from the University of Verona, Italy, Professor Michael Boyle from the University of West Indies at Mona in Jamaica and Professor Ming-Hua Zheng from the NAFLD Research Center, Department of Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.

Research projects

Wessex Evaluation of fatty Liver and Cardiovascular markers in NAFLD (non alcoholic fatty liver disease) with OMacor thErapy: WELCOME Study completed 2019.

(www.clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT00760513)

The WELCOME (Wessex Evaluation of fatty Liver and Cardiovascular markers in NAFLD [non alcoholic fatty liver disease] with OMacor thErapy) study was a phase IV trial that was undertaken in 100 patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The WELCOME study tested the effects of high dose purified n-3 long chain fatty acids (Omacor- Solvay/Abbott/Pronova 4 grames o.d. on a range of liver and cardio-metabolic outcomes. The WELCOME study was run within the Southampton NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Nutrition, Lifestyle and Obesity. The trial enabled collaborations with another UK BRU, three other UK universities and with industry (Solvay and Pronova). The trial had core funding from NIHR and also attracted extra grant support from Diabetes UK, the NHS and the University of Pavia (Italy). The WELCOME study was registered with the Diabetes and Hepatology networks. The trial was also adopted by the NIHR Portfolio.

Investigation of the effects of a synbiotic on liver fat, disease biomarkers and intestinal microbiota in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (ongoing)

Investigation of synbiotic treatment in NAFLD (INSYTE)

www.clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT01680640 REC: 12/SC/0614

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of altering gut microbiota in patients with NAFLD through administration of a combination of a pre and a probiotic (termed a synbiotic) on liver fat and a range of disease biomarkers. Our specific hypothesis is that: synbiotic treatment is beneficial in decreasing liver fat content and synbiotic treatment favourably changes the gut microbiota composition. Our specific aims are: to test the effects of the synbiotic intervention on the primary outcomes (changes in: liver fat percentage and gut microbiota composition) and secondary outcomes (changes in: liver mitochondrial function, gut permeability, gut hormone profile, serum lipopolysaccharide levels, plasma/faecal short chain fatty acids levels, plasma/urine/faecal bile acid and plasma/urine trimethyl-amine (TMA) concentrations).

Our study will elucidate whether treatment with a synbiotic can modify gut microbiota and decrease liver fat. Additionally, we will test whether synbiotic treatment can modify metaorganismal pathways and improve metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors associated with NAFLD.

Department(s)

Human Development and Health

Affiliate Department(s)

Human Development and Physiology

Postgraduate supervision

PhD supervision

Dr Junlong Zhang University of Cambridge 2000
Dr Meis Moukayed University of Cambridge 2002
Dr Maha Othman University of Southampton 2003
Dr Lisa Douet University of Southampton 2008
Dr John Valletta University of Southampton 2011
Dr Hugh Thomas University of Southampton 2017
Dr Albandri Alshathry University of Southampton 2017
Dr Eleonora Scorletti University of Southampton 2018
Dr Lokpal Bhatia University of Southampton 2019
Dr Oluwakemi Lokulo-Sodipe University of Southampton 2019

Prof Byrne is currently supervising four students (2020)

MD supervision

Dr David Neal University of Southampton 2004
Dr Ruth Poole University of Southampton 2006
Dr Rustom Guzder University of Southampton 2006
Dr Helen Holt University of Southampton 2007
Dr Dinesh Bagmane University of Southampton 2009
Dr Magdalena Turzyniecka University of Southampton 2012
Dr Omar Rana University of Southampton 2012
Dr Natalie Borman University of Southampton 2014

PhD students

Amal Almehadi
Adrian Cheang
Josh Beavis

MPhil examiner

University of Newcastle, 2004

MD examiner

University of Newcastle, 2006
University of Southampton 2009
University of Southampton 2013
University of Southampton 2019

PhD examiner

University of Belfast, 2004
University of Cambridge, 2005.
University of Southampton, 2008
University of London Imperial, 2009
Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, 2010
University of Glasgow 2011
University of Cambridge 2014
University of Southampton 2014
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter and Plymouth, 2015

National and international responsibilities

Committee member of the British Hyperlipidaemia Association (1997-2000).
Committee member Research Grants Diabetes UK 2005-2008
Committee member Lipids section Royal Society of Medicine 2006-
Junior Hon Secretary Lipids, Metabolism & Vascular Risk section at the Royal Society of Medicine 2008-
Research Grants Committee member. Diabetes UK 2009-2013
Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) member for the Laboratory of Developmental Biology (LDB) at Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University. June 2010-2014
Faculty member F1000 Prime 2014-
President RSM Lipids, Metabolism and Vascular Risk section 2013-2016
Member of the Steering Committee of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2016-
NICE NAFLD Guideline (ng49) Development Group member and Expert Diabetologist Advisor 2014-2016
Expert Adviser panel member for the NICE Centre for Guidelines (CfG) Committee. Dec 2016-
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Chronic Liver Disease Working Group/Committee meeting. 18th July 2017
Health Research Board Ireland EIA 2018 Grants review panel member

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Articles

Books

Byrne, C. D., & Wild, S. H. (Eds.) (2011). The metabolic syndrome: science and clinical practice. Wiley-Blackwell.
Byrne, C. D., & Wild, S. H. (Eds.) (2007). The metabolic syndrome and primary care. John Wiley.
Byrne, C. D., & Wild, S. (Eds.) (2005). The metabolic syndrome. Wiley.

Book Chapters

Wainwright, P., Ryan, A., Olufadi, R., & Byrne, C. D. (2015). Cholesterol metabolism and vascular disease. In eLS (pp. 1-12). John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0002264.pub3
Wild, S. H., & Byrne, C. D. (2011). The epidemiology of the metabolic syndrome and its association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions. In The Metabolic Syndrome (pp. 1-18). Wiley-Blackwell.
Ahmed, M. H., Olufadi, R., & Byrne, C. D. (2010). Metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular risk. In P. P. Toth (Ed.), The Year in Lipid Disorders (pp. 24-45). Clinical Publishing.
Olufadi, R., Wild, S. H., & Byrne, C. D. (2009). Cholesterol metabolism and vascular disease. In eLS John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0002264.pub2
Byrne, C. D., & Phillips, D. I. W. (2006). The developmental environment and its role in the metabolic syndrome. In P. Gluckman, & M. Hanson (Eds.), Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (pp. 265-274). Cambridge University Press.
Ahmed, M. H., & Byrne, C. D. (2005). Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In C. D. Byrne, & S. Wild (Eds.), The Metabolic Syndrome (pp. 279-305). Wiley.
Wild, S. H., & Byrne, C. D. (2005). The global burden of the metabolic syndrome and its consequences for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In C. D. Byrne, & S. H. Wild (Eds.), The Metabolic Syndrome (pp. 1-43). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd..
Krentz, A. J., Olufadi, R., & Byrne, C. D. (2004). Point-of-care testing in diabetes mellitus. In Point-of-Care Testing (pp. 309-323). AACC Press.
Byrne, C. D. (2001). Reducing risk of atherosclerotic vascular disease in the diabetic population. In P. Weissberg (Ed.), Horizons in Medicine (pp. 39-55). Royal College of Physicians.

Conferences

Cagampang, F., Byrne, C., & Thomas, H. (2015). Maternal metformin treatment in obese pregnancy: Sex differences in its effect on offspring metabolism. The FASEB Journal, 29(No. 1 Supplement), 754.16. https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.754.16
Valletta, J. J., Chipperfield, A. J., & Byrne, C. D. (2009). Gaussian process modelling of blood glucose response to free-living physical activity data in people with type 1 diabetes. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (pp. 4913-4916). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Bruce, K. D., Byrne, C. D., & Friedland, J. S. (2009). Metabolic syndrome. In Horizons in Medicine 21: The Proceedings of the Advanced Medicine Conference 2009 (pp. 39-46). (Horizons in Medicine; Vol. 21). Royal College of Physicans.
Byrne, C. D., Turzyniecka, M., Wild, S. H., Krentz, A. J., Chipperfield, A. J., Gamble, J., & Clough, G. F. (2009). Skeletal muscle microvascular exchange capacity is associated with hyperglycaemia in non-diabetic subjects with central obesity. Paper presented at 45th Annual Meeting of the European Assocation for the Study of Diabetes, .
Englyst, N. A., Kwan, J., Horsfield, G., Bryant, T., & Gawne-Cain, M. (2007). Infection and IL-6 are independent risk factors for a poor functional outcome from ischemic stroke. In European Stroke Conference (Supplement Issue: Cerebrovascular Diseases 2007, Vol. 23, Suppl. 2 ) (pp. p.64). Karger. https://doi.org/10.1159/000103854
Walter, L., Turzyniecka, M., Byrne, C. D., Gamble, J., & Clough, G. F. (2007). Muscle microvascular filtration capacity and blood flow in metabolic syndrome. Microcirculation, 14(6), p.645. https://doi.org/10.1080/10739680701410785
Ung, J. C. C., Turzyniecka, M., & Clough, G. F. (2007). Relationship between muscle blood flow and insulin sensitivity in metabolica syndrome. Microcirculation, 14(6), p.658. https://doi.org/10.1080/10739680701410785

Journal Special Issue

Cleal, J., Bruce, K. D., Shearer, J. L., Thomas, H., Plume, J., Gregory, L., Shepard, J., Spiers-Fitzgerald, K., Mani, R., Lewis, R., Lillycrop, K., Hanson, M., Byrne, C., & Cagampang, F. (2019). Maternal obesity during pregnancy alters daily activity and feeding cycles, and hypothalamic clock gene expression in adult male mouse offspring. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(21), 1-19. [5408]. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20215408

Letters/Editorials

Reviews

Professor Byrne gives regular lectures to physicians and students on diabetes, non alcoholic fatty liver disease, the metabolic syndrome, and the diagnosis and management of hyperlipidaemias.

Pastoral tutor: University of Southampton medical students
Teaching 2nd year Endocrine course University of Southampton Medical students
Teaching 3rd year Endocrinology University of Southampton Medical students
Teaching 3rd year BSc course in Nutrition, University of Southampton students
Teaching ‘Scientific basis of Diabetes’ symposium for Year 3 Medical students
Head of Field Year 3 Research Project BMedSci/MMedSci Diabetes & Endocrinology
BM Final Year Diabetes Revision
Clinical Supervisor SpRs in Chemical Pathology/Metabolic Medicine
Southampton University Hospitals Trust Course organiser SpR Metabolic Medicine, Southampton University Hospitals Trust
Academic Supervisor: Academic Clinical Fellow Metabolic Medicine

Professor Christopher Byrne
Phone: (023) 8120 8818, PA: (023) 8120 5006
Fax: (023) 8120 4221
Email: c.d.byrne@southampton.ac.uk

Room Number: SGH//MP887

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