Professor Chris McCabe BSc PhD

Professor Chris McCabe

Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
Professor of Molecular Endocrinology
Theme Lead (Endocrinology)
Director of Sustainability, College of Medicine and Health, The Designated Individual, the Medical School

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8713
Email
c.j.mccabe.med@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Chris McCabe is Professor of Molecular Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham. He works on mechanisms of endocrine cancers, including thyroid and breast tumour models. Specifically, the research of the McCabe group focuses on the action of the sodium iodide symporter NIS in thyroid tumours; assessment of the role of the proto-oncogenes PTTG and PBF in thyroid and breast; in vitro and in vivo models exploring protein localisation and function; mechanisms of aneuploidy and genetic instability.

Qualifications

  • PhD (Drosophila behavioural genetics) University of Birmingham 1995
  • BSc (First Class Special Honours in Genetics) University of Sheffield 1990

Biography

Chris McCabe qualified with a BSc in Genetics from the University of Sheffield in 1990, and pursued a PhD in the behavioural genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster at the University of Birmingham, which was awarded in 1995.

Subsequently, Chris became interested in applying emerging molecular genetic techniques to the study of human disease, and was appointed as an MRC Post Doctoral Fellow in the Division of Medical Sciences at the University of Birmingham, under the mentorship of Professor Jayne Franklyn.

Following an overseas stint at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Chris achieved the Marjorie Robinson Fellowship in Endocrinology and a Lectureship at the University of Birmingham. He subsequently progressed to Senior Lecturer, Reader, and a Chair in 2010. He was awarded the Pitt-Rivers Award in 2023.

Chris has lectured widely across the world both within science, and as a fiction writer with a specific interest in the communication of science.

Teaching

  • BMed Sc 2nd and 3rd years
  • MBChB 1st and 2nd years
  • BMed Sc 3rd year projects

Postgraduate supervision

  • 30+ previous PhD and MD students
  • 3 current PhD students funded by the DoD and CRUK
  • Future students welcomed in thyroid and breast cancer research

Research

  • The action of the sodium iodide symporter NIS in radioiodine treatment of thyroid and other tumours.
  • Therapeutic modulation of radioiodine uptake in vitro and in vivo
  • Assessment of the role of the proto-oncogenes PTTG and PBF in thyroid and breast tumours
  • Diverse mechanisms of endocrine cancer
  • Murine models of tumourigenesis
  • Novel drug screening strategies

Other activities

  • Chief Operating Officer and Secretary, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • Chair, Board of Directors, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • Chair, Executive Committee, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • POC, European Society of Endocrinology (2026-2028)
  • NCRI Thyroid Cancer Subgroup (2019-present)
  • Director, Environment and Sustainability Committee, College of Medicine and Health (2013-present)
  • Science Committee, European Society for Endocrinology (2021-2025)
  • Chair, Wellcome Trust Basic Science Interview Committee (2016-2019)
  • Chair, Science Committee of the Society for Endocrinology (2016-2020)
  • Script Editor (ITV, C4, BBC, CBBC, Discovery Channel etc)
  • Writer 

Publications

Selected recent publications

Brookes K, Thornton CM, Zha L, Kim J, Small B, Nieto HR, Adcock H, Bottegoni G, Cox LR, Kannappan V, Wang W, Gorvin CM, Jhiang S, Ringel MD, Campbell MJ, Sunassee K, Blower PJ, Boelaert K, Smith VE, Read ML, McCabe CJ. 2026. Disulfiram metabolite Cu(DDC)2 enhances radionuclide uptake in vivo revealing insights into tumoural ablation resistance. eBioMedicine 125:106-165.

Poole VL, Alshahrani MM, Manivannan S, Landa I, Hariharan A, Thompson RJ, Kocbiyik M, Thornton CEM, Brookes K, Fletcher A, Boelaert K, Read ML, McCabe CJ, Smith VE. 2025. Targeting Src Tyrosine Kinase to Enhance Radioiodide Uptake in Breast Cancer. Endocrine Related Cancer 32(8):e240312. doi: 10.1530/ERC-24-031

Wyatt RA, Gallagher M, Zha L, McCabe CJ, Gorvin CM. 2025. A calcium-sensing receptor dileucine motif is required to activate spatially distinct endosomal signaling pathways. iScience 13;28(6):112651. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112651

Read ML, Brookes K, Zha L, Manivannan S, Kim J, Kocbiyik M, Fletcher A, Gorvin CM, Firth G, Fruhwirth GO, Nicola JP, Jhiang S, Ringel MD, Campbell MJ, Sunassee K, Blower PJ, Boelaert K, Nieto HR, Smith VE, McCabe CJ. 2024. Combined Vorinostat and Chloroquine Inhibit Sodium Iodide Symporter Endocytosis and Enhance Radionuclide Uptake In Vivo. Clinical Cancer Research 30(7):1352-1366 PMID: 37921808

Nieto HR, Thornton CEM, Brookes K, de Menezes AN, Fletcher A, Alshahrani M, Kocbiyik M, Sharma N, Boelaert K, Cazier JB, Mehanna H, Smith VE, Read ML, McCabe CJ. 2022. Recurrence of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Systematic Appraisal of Risk Factors. JCEM 107(5):1392-1406

Read ML, Brookes K, Thornton C, Fletcher AL, Alshahrani M, Khan R, Nieto H, de Souza PB, Webster JRM, Alderwick LJ, Boelaert K, Smith VE, McCabe CJ. 2022. New mechanisms of radioiodide uptake revealed via a novel high throughput drug screening approach in thyroid cancer. Cell Chemical Biology 29(3):502-516 

Fletcher A., Read M.L., Thornton C.E.M., Larner D.P., Poole V.L., Brookes K., Nieto H.R., Alshahrani M., Thompson R.J., Lavery G.G., Landa I., Fagin J.A., Campbell M.J., Boelaert K., Turnell A.S., Smith V.E. and McCabe C.J. 2020. Targeting Novel Sodium Iodide Symporter Interactors ADP-Ribosylation Factor 4 and Valosin-Containing Protein Enhances Radioiodine Uptake. Cancer Research 80(1):102-115 

Read ML, Modasia B, Fletcher A, Thompson RJ, Baker K, Rae PC, Nieto HR, Poole VL, Roberts S, Campbell MJ, Boelaert K, Turnell AS, Smith VE, Mehanna H and McCabe CJ. 2018. PTTG and PBF functionally interact with p53 and predict overall survival in head and neck cancer. Cancer Research 78(20):5863-5876

View all publications in research portal