Associate/Affiliate Principal Investigators

Institute of Metabolism and System Research Principal Investigators

Professor Leigh Breen

Professor Leigh Breen

Exercise & Health Theme Lead
Professor of Translational Muscle Physiology

Professor Leigh Breen is a leading expert in the field of skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism, with an international standing in this field of research. His research has focused on the regulatory mechanisms of human skeletal muscle remodeling, alongside translational in vitro cell approaches. By combining muscle biochemistry with stable isotope tracer techniques and comprehensive in vivo ...

Dr Sarah J Conner

Dr Sarah J Conner

Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Biology

Sarah Conner is a Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Biology and an Honorary Research Scientist at the Birmingham Women’s Fertility Centre.

In addition to her research interests, Sarah is an enthusiastic contributor to and coordinator of Reproduction teaching across a number of undergraduate programmes in the University.

Professor Helen J. Cooper

Professor Helen J. Cooper

Professor of Mass Spectrometry
Deputy Head of School
EPSRC Established Career Fellow

Helen is Professor of Mass Spectrometry and EPSRC Established Career Fellow. Her research focuses on the development and application of advanced mass spectrometry for the analysis of biomolecules, particularly peptides and proteins. Current areas of research include liquid extraction surface analysis of biological substrates such as dried blood spots, thin tissue sections and bacterial colonies; ...

Dr Vivek Dhir

Dr Vivek Dhir

Senior Lecturer in Molecular Endocrinology
MPharm Admissions Tutor - Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism

Vivek Dhir is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Endocrinology and has published a number of high impact research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews in the fields of endocrinology, metabolism and genetics. He has received major grants from the Welcome trust and The MRC.

Vivek is keen to talk about his science and gives frequent seminars to various groups at the local, national and ...

Dr Rowan Hardy

Dr Rowan Hardy

Associate Professor in Steroid Metabolism and Signalling
School of Biomedical Sciences Post Graduate Research Lead
School of Biomedical Sciences Research Themes Lead

As an Associate Professor in Steroid Metabolism and Signalling I have expanded upon a successful Versus Arthritis Early Career Development fellowship to become a leader in the field of steroid metabolism and inflammation and in vivo models of chronic inflammation. My research group is examining the roles of myeloid and mesenchymal steroid metabolism and signalling in mediating inflammatory ...

Dr Shan He

Senior Lecturer of Computer Science

Dr Shan He is a Senior Lecturer in Computational Biology in the School of Computer Science, at the University of Birmingham. For more information, please see Shan's homepage.

 

Dr Lisa J Hill

Dr Lisa J Hill

Associate Professor in Translational Neuroscience
Affiliated with the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Affiliated with the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research

Associate Professor Lisa Hill is a Translational Neuroscientist within the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She is the Pre-Clinical lead of the Translational Brain Science Research Group  and PI/Lead of the Neuro-Ocular Inflammation and Matrix Research Group within Neuroscience, Trauma and Ophthalmology . Completing her PhD at the University of Birmingham in ...

Dr Yu-Chiang Lai

Dr Yu-Chiang Lai

Birmingham Fellow in Molecular Physiology and Biochemistry
Director of Mitochondrial Profiling Centre

Yu-Chiang is a Birmingham Fellow in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences and affiliated in the Mitochondrial Profiling Centre (MPC), MRC-ARUK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (IMSR).   

Yu-Chiang’s group focuses on deciphering the signalling networks that regulate muscle metabolic functions. We ...

Professor Claudio Mauro

Professor Claudio Mauro

Professor of Metabolism and Inflammation
British Heart Foundation Senior Basic Science Research Fellow
British Journal of Pharmacology Senior Editor (Metabolism)

Professor Mauro trained as biochemist and cellular biologist before starting to approach immunological questions with his own group, motivated by the recent ‘renaissance’ in the interest in metabolism in widespread fields of the basic and clinical science.

The Mauro’s group investigates the interconnections between metabolic and inflammatory pathways and how systemic and local ...

Professor David Smith

Professor David Smith

Professor of Applied Mathematics

Professor Smith's interests are microscale biological fluid dynamics, especially in fertility, health and disease. Examples including sperm motiliy, cilia driven flow, mucus layers in lungs and digestive tract, and the fluid mechanics of biopolymers. He works with computational methods for modelling viscous flows, especially boundary integral methods, with applications in medicine and biology.

Professor Peter Tino

Professor Peter Tino

Professor of Complex and Adaptive Systems

Peter Tiňo is a Professor of Complex and Adaptive Systems at the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of over 160 research articles in the areas of dynamical systems, machine learning, natural computation and fractal geometry. Peter has been awarded three outstanding Journal Paper of the Year awards and the Head of School's Excellence in Teaching Award.

Professor Gareth Wallis

Professor Gareth Wallis

Head of Research and Knowledge Transfer
Associate Professor (Reader) in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition

Professor Wallis is an Exercise Scientist with major interests in Nutrition and Metabolism. He studies dietary influences on exercise metabolism, with a particular focus on macronutrients and their roles in performance, training adaptation and health.

Dr Ralf Weber

Dr Ralf Weber

Director of Bioinformatics, Phenome Centre Birmingham (PCB)
Centre for Environmental Research and Justice (CERJ)

Ralf Weber is the Director of Bioinformatics for the Phenome Centre Birmingham. His research team’s interests include the development and application of data processing, biostatistics and data mining tools to facilitate biochemical annotation and interpretation of clinical and toxicological metabolomics data. Dr Weber is a member of the Centre for Environmental Research and Justice ...

Dr Martin Whitham

Dr Martin Whitham

Senior Lecturer in Exercise Metabolism

Dr Martin Whitham is an integrative physiologist primarily interested in endocrinology and tissue cross-talk in the context of exercise. Since physical activity represents a broad and effective preventative treatment for a host of non-communicable diseases, the main focus of his group’s work is to examine the role small vesicles, exosomes and proteins play in inter-tissue signalling during ...