Professor Chris Tselepis FRSB PFHEA

• 2021 PFHEA
• 2020 SFHEA 
• 2017 Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (RSoB) FRSB
• RSoB qualified accreditation assessor
• 1996 PhD in Biochemistry
• 1992 BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry

Chris Tselepis qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Wales in 1992. He then went on to study for a PhD in Biochemistry at the prestigious Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix research at the University of Manchester. 

Upon successful completion in 1996 he pursued his interests in cell-cell adhesion and took up a post-doctoral position with Prof Garrod at the University of Manchester. At the end of this period Chris moved to the Department of Medicine at the University of Birmingham to study cell-cell adhesion in gastrointestinal cancers and was very soon promoted to a lecturer within the department. 

This work led to several seminal papers examining the role of extracellular signals in Barrett’s carcinogenesis and began to solidify his interests in identifying novel mechanisms of chemoprevention. In 2006 Chris was promoted to Senior Lecturer in the School for Cancer Sciences and pursued his interests in gastrointestinal cancer. In particular through close collaborations with Prof Tariq Iqbal (Consultant Gastroenterologist UHB) Chris’s group now focuses on the role of iron in carcinogenesis and has forged strong links both nationally and internationally. His work has led to the discovery of the usefulness of dietary iron chelators to treat cancer and has led to several patents. Chris is currently working with experts in the Schools of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham and has had support from Industry to further develop these technologies. Since joining the University he has successfully supervised 20 MD/PhD students, in 2019 Chris was promoted to Reader and in 2021 Chris was promoted as Professor of Biomedical Science.

Alongside his research Chris has been heavily involved in teaching both undergraduate and post-graduate students. Most pertinently he is module lead on a variety of modules delivered to Biomedical Science and Medical students. He led the highly successful undergraduate Biomedical Science programme between 2014-2019, was Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences from 2019-2023 and was recently Director of Institute of Clinical Sciences between 2023-2024.

Finally throughout his career he has participated in a host of widening participation and outreach activities showcasing the work both of the University of Birmingham and Cancer Research UK.

• Biomedical Science BSc
  • Module Coordinator for the Yr1 Digestive and Renal Sciences module and the Yr3 Medical Science in Society module
• Medicine and Surgery MBChB
  • Module Coordinator for the Yr1 Digestive system. 

• Dental Surgery BDS
  • Teaches extensively in lecture and SGT format on the Digestive system 
•  Chris has also led on audio feedback for student assessment

Since joining Birmingham Chris has successfully supervised 20 MD/PhD students. Chris is further interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

• The role of iron and usefulness of chelation therapy in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer
• The usefulness of dietary iron chelators as chemopreventive agents
• Formulation development for the delivery of bioactives including probiotics to the colon

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

Chris’s research group is interested in understanding how dietary iron excess can be detrimental to human health in particular in intestinal diseases including inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. By using a variety of models his group has shown that iron can amplify a number of oncogenic signalling pathways and that this may in part be through epigenetic events. In addition iron has previously been linked with dysbiosis and that on the whole bacteria associated with enhancement of health are diminished in number. Thus this evidence has led us to explore the use of iron chelators in particular focussing on naturally occurring iron chelators which could be used as chemopreventive agents in high risk individuals. Thus far the group has explored a number of polyphenolic compounds and alginate and have demonstrated strong iron chelating potential. However, for these agents to have maximal bioactivity they require developing into ‘wet’ based formulations which will allow for a larger quantity of bioactive to be delivered specifically to the colon. Such formulations will also allow the delivery of not only iron chelators but also probiotics to the colon for the enhancement of health.  This is particularly pertinent since Chris is collaborating closely with Professor Iqbal who is the chief investigator of the STOP-Colitis trial; a trial aimed at remedying inflammatory bowel disease through the use of a faecal transplant. The outputs of this study are ultimately to identify the specific strains of bacteria associated with engraftment and clinical improvement in their disease activity and it will be these strains that the group will look to also deliver in their novel wet based formulations.

• External examiner for a variety of Biomedical Related programmes at University College London, University of Bath and University of Leicester.
• Accreditation Assessor for the Royal Society of Biology
• Engaged in a variety of outreach and widening participation events most recently delivering Biomedical Science Masterclasses to local school children including events at the University of Birmingham School.
• In partnership with Dr Douglas Ward and Dr Tariq Iqbal pioneered and manage a hepcidin assay which is currently commercialised and run as an international service for the assessment of hepcidin both within the research and clinical context. http://www.hepcidin.bham.ac.uk/