Dr Chris Weston BSc PhD

Chris Weston

Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
NIHR Biomedical Research Unit and Centre for Liver Research
5th Floor Institute for Biomedical Research
The Medical School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Chris Weston is a post-doctoral research fellow based in the Centre for Liver Research who has received grant funding from the MRC and the Wellcome Trust.

His research focus is the regulation of immune mediated injury and fibrosis in the human liver, with a view to establish the role that amine oxidases such as vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) and the lysyl oxidase family (LOX, LOXL1-4) play in this process. He is also interested in the development of therapeutic agents to target inflammatory liver disease and works closely with clinical colleagues to facilitate the transition from bench to bedside.

Qualifications

  • PhD Biochemistry, Birmingham 2001
  • BSc Biochemistry with Biotechnology, Birmingham 1998

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Weston is interested in supervising doctoral research in the following areas:

The role of amine oxidases in liver disease and primary liver cancer
Lymphocyte recruitment to the human liver

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Chris Weston directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Other activities

  • Membership of the British Association for the Study of the Liver
  • STEM ambassador to promote Science and Technology for children and young people

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Davies, SP, Ronca, V, Wootton, GE, Krajewska, NM, Bozward, AG, Fiancette, R, Patten, DA, Yankouskaya, K, Reynolds, GM, Pat, S, Osei-Bordom, DC, Richardson, N, Grover, LM, Weston, CJ & Oo, YH 2024, 'Expression of E-cadherin by CD8+ T cells promotes their invasion into biliary epithelial cells', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 853. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44910-2

Hirschfield, G, Arndtz, K, Kirkham, A, Chen, Y-Y, Fox, R, Rowe, A, Douglas-Pugh, J, Thorburn, D, Barnes, E, Aithal, GP, Hull, D, Bhandal, K, Olsen, K, Woodward, P, Lax, S, Newsome, P, Smith, D, Kallio, A, Adams, D, Homer, V & Weston, C 2024, 'Vascular adhesion protein-1 blockade in primary sclerosing cholangitis: open-label, multi-centre, single arm, phase II trial', Hepatology Communications. <https://journals.lww.com/hepcomm/pages/default.aspx>

Pop, O-T, Geng, A, Flint, E, Singanayagam, A, Ercan, C, Possamai, L, Patel, VC, Kuenzler, P, Meier, M-A, Soysal, S, Hruz, P, Kollmar, O, Tatham, KC, Ward, JK, Müllhaupt, B, Weber, A, Wendon, J, Niess, JH, Heim, M, Semela, D, Weston, C, Antoniades, CG, Terracciano, LM, Triantafyllou, E, Brenig, RG & Bernsmeier, C 2023, 'AXL expression on homeostatic resident liver macrophages is reduced in cirrhosis following GAS6 production by hepatic stellate cells', Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmgh.2023.03.007

Greenman, R, Segal-Salto, M, Barashi, N, Hay, O, Katav, A, Levi, O, Vaknin, I, Aricha, R, Aharoni, S, Snir, T, Mishalian, I, Olam, D, Amer, J, Salhab, A, Safadi, R, Maor, Y, Trivedi, P, Weston, CJ, Saffioti, F, Hall, A, Pinzani, M, Thorburn, D, Peled, A & Mor, A 2023, 'CCL24 regulates biliary inflammation and fibrosis in primary sclerosing cholangitis', JCI Insight, vol. 8, no. 12, e162270. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.162270

Hall, C, Law, JP, Reyat, JS, Cumberland, MJ, Hang, S, Vo, NTN, Raniga, K, Weston, CJ, O’Shea, C, Townend, JN, Gehmlich, K, Ferro, CJ, Denning, C & Pavlovic, D 2023, 'Chronic activation of human cardiac fibroblasts in vitro attenuates the reversibility of the myofibroblast phenotype', Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, 12137. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39369-y

Arndtz, K, Chen, YY, Rowe, A, Homer, V, Kirkham, A, Douglas-Pugh, J, Slade, D, Thorburn, D, Barnes, E, Aithal, G, Newsome, P, Smith, D, Adams, D, Weston, C & Hirschfield, G 2022, 'Monoclonal antibody BTT1023 targeting vascular adhesion protein 1 for treating primary sclerosing cholangitis: BUTEO single-arm Phase II trial', Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation, vol. 9, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.3310/ZPNF4670

El-awaisi, J, Kavanagh, D, Rink, M, Weston, C, Drury, N & Kalia, N 2022, 'Targeting IL-36 improves age-related coronary microcirculatory dysfunction and attenuates myocardial ischemia/ reperfusion injury in mice: ageing and the coronary microcirculation ', JCI Insight, vol. 7, no. 5, e155236. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.155236

James, BH, Papakyriacou, P, Gardener, MJ, Gliddon, L, Weston, CJ & Lalor, PF 2022, 'The Contribution of Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells to Clearance of Therapeutic Antibody', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 12, 753833. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.753833

Price, AM, Moody, WE, Stoll, VM, Vijapurapu, R, Hayer, MK, Biasiolli, L, Weston, CJ, Webster, R, Wesolowski, R, McGee, KC, Liu, B, Baig, S, Pickup, LC, Radhakrishnan, A, Law, JP, Edwards, NC, Steeds, RP, Ferro, CJ & Townend, JN 2021, 'Cardiovascular effects of unilateral nephrectomy in living kidney donors at 5 years', Hypertension, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 1273-1284. https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.15398

Khamri, W, Gudd, C, Liu, T, Nathwani, R, Krasniqi, M, Azam, S, Barbera, T, Trovato, FM, Possamai, L, Triantafyllou, E, Seoane, RC, Lebosse, F, Singanayagam, A, Kumar, N, Bernsmeier, C, Mukherjee, S, McPhail, M, Weston, CJ, Antoniades, CG & Thursz, MR 2021, 'Suppressor CD4+ T cells expressing HLA-G are expanded in the peripheral blood from patients with acute decompensation of cirrhosis', Gut. https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2021-324071

Law, JP, Price, AM, Pickup, L, Radhakrishnan, A, Weston, C, Jones, AM, McGettrick, HM, Chua, W, Steeds, RP, Fabritz, L, Kirchhof, P, Pavlovic, D, Townend, JN & Ferro, CJ 2020, 'Clinical potential of targeting fibroblast growth factor‐23 and αKlotho in the treatment of uremic cardiomyopathy', Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 9, no. 7, e016041. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.016041

Hayer, M, Radhakrishnan, A, Price, A, Liu, B, Baig, S, Weston, C, Biasiolli, L, Ferro, C, Townend, J, Steeds, R & Edwards, NC 2020, 'Defining myocardial abnormalities across the stages of chronic kidney disease: a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging study', JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 2357-2367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.04.021

Fromont, C, Atzori, A, Kaur, D, Hashmi, L, Greco, G, Cabanillas, A, Nguyen, HV, Jones, DH, Garzón, M, Varela, A, Stevenson, B, Iacobini, G, Lenoir, M, Rajesh, S, Box, C, Kumar, J, Grant, P, Novitskaia, V, Morgan, J, Sorrell, F, Redondo, C, Kramer, A, Harris, CJ, Leighton, B, Vickers, S, Cheetham, S, Kenyon, C, Grabowska, AM, Overduin, M, Berditchevski, F, Weston, CJ, Knapp, S, Fischer, PM & Butterworth, S 2020, 'Discovery of highly selective inhibitors of calmodulin-dependent kinases that restore insulin sensitivity in the diet-induced obese in vivo mouse model', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 63, no. 13, pp. 6784-6801. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01803

Abstract

El-awaisi, J, Kavanagh, D, Rink, M, Weston, C, Drury, N & Kalia, N 2022, 'Intravital & laser speckle investigations of the role of interleukin-36 in myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury – a new therapeutic target for the aged heart', Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, vol. 173, no. supplement, pp. 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.08.017

Review article

Pufal, K, Lawson, A, Hodson, J, Bangash, M, Patel, J, Weston, C, Gulik, TV & Dasari, BV 2021, 'Role of liver support systems in the management of post hepatectomy liver failure: a systematic review of the literature', Annals of hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 171-178. https://doi.org/10.14701/ahbps.2021.25.2.171

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Immune mediated injury and fibrosis in the human liver