Professor Philip Newsome PhD, FRCPE

Philip Newsome

Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Professor of Experimental Hepatology and Honorary Consultant Hepatologist
Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer for the College of Medical & Dental Sciences
Director of the Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8700
Telephone (2)
+44 (0)121 414 5614
Email
p.n.newsome@bham.ac.uk
Loraine Brown, Executive Assistant
l.brown.2@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research
Institute of Biomedical Research
Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Philip Newsome is also Director of the Innovate UK funded Midlands and Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre, Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and Deputy Director of the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre.

Philip has published over 150 major research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews and book chapters in the fields of stromal cell biology and liver disease. He has received major grants from Innovate UK, NIHR, European Commission, Wellcome Trust, UKSCF, BBSRC and the Medical Research Council.

He is an enthusiastic communicator on the theme of translational cell therapy work and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and gives frequent talks to various groups at both the local and national level. He frequently contributes to both the local and national media and continues to advise the BBC on cell therapy related stories.

Qualifications

  • Fellowship of Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh 2009
  • PhD Medicine 2003
  • MBChB 1995
  • BSc (Hons) Neuroscience 1994

Biography

Philip Newsome is Professor of Experimental Hepatology and Director of the Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research as well as Director of the Innovate-UK funded Midlands and Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre. He is Deputy Director of the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre and is the Chief Investigator on the EU FP7 funded MERLIN project as well as the Innovate UK funded POLARISE trial looking at mesenchymal stromal cells in liver disease.

He runs the metabolic services at the Liver Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham which includes a large multi-disciplinary clinic for patients with NAFLD. He was Chief Investigator on a randomised controlled trial of Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapy in NAFLD published in the Lancet, and is also Chief Investigator on a study of Fibroscan in NAFLD published in Gastroenterology. He is editor of a published textbook on Liver Transplantation, and chaired the national guidelines for abnormal liver blood tests. He sat on the NICE Guideline Development Group for NAFLD.

He is the Secretary General (President) for the European Association for the Study of the Liver which is the foremost Hepatology society in Europe. Its annual conference is the leading international meeting with >10,000 attendees.

He is the Hepatology vice-President for the British Society of Gastroenterology which is the foremost gastroenterology society in the UK.

Philip has received significant grant funding from the Innovate UK, NIHR, European Union, Wellcome Trust, UKSCF, BBSRC and the Medical Research Council. This research portfolio has led to high impact publications amongst over 100 major research papers in the fields of stem cell biology and liver disease. This has included original articles (PNAS, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, Gut, American Journal of Transplantation, Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet) and review articles (Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology).

Prospective researchers should contact him regarding job/training opportunities.

Teaching

Programmes

A range of lectures on aspects of stem cell biology, stem cell contribution in liver injury, liver regeneration and disease modelling using genetically modified mice. These include stem cell courses for Biomedical Science BSc, and one-off lectures for a number of MBChB, MSc and BSc courses. He also provides bed-side teaching for clinical students.

Module lead on Biomedical Science BSc (liver disease and health).

Postgraduate supervision

Philip is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Contribution of adult stem cells to liver injury and repair.
  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; ranging from laboratory to clinical studies.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Professor Philip Newsome 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.

Research

Research themes

Stromal cell Biology, clinical trials, cell trafficking and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Research activity

As a clinician scientist Phil’s research starts with cutting edge basic science work which is being successfully translated to the bedside by way of innovative therapeutic studies, such as the NIHR-funded clinical trial of stem cell therapy in patients with liver cirrhosis for which he is Chief Investigator. This was the largest randomised controlled trial of stem cell therapy thus far and was in collaboration with his colleague Stuart Forbes in Edinburgh.

Stem/stromal cell biology

The main emphasis of his group’s laboratory work over the last few years has been on the trafficking and role of both adult and embryonic stem cells in the context of liver injury. This has allowed identification of the key molecular interactions that regulate the successful engraftment of such cells into the liver.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Additionally he has a bench to bedside programme of research in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). He is clinical lead for the metabolic liver service at UHBNFT and was Chief Investigator on a Wellcome Trust funded randomised double-blinded placebo controlled trial of Liraglutide (novel Glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue) in patients with NAFLD published in the Lancet. This was an Investigator initiated study performed in conjunction with an industrial partner (Novo Nordisk) and the University of Nottingham (Guru Aithal).

NAFLD is now the commonest cause of liver disease in the West, and for which again there are no effective therapies. He is the global Chief Investigator on multiple clinical trials of new therapeutic agents and leads on NAFLD for both the UK and EASL Lancet commissions on liver disease.

Other activities

  • Clinical lead for metabolic liver disease at the Liver Unit, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBNFT)
  • Expert advisor for the Association of Glycogen Storage Disorders

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Aiyegbusi, OL, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Retzer, A, Newsome, P, Buckley, C & Calvert, M 2022, 'Outcome selection for tissue-agnostic drug trials for immune mediated inflammatory diseases: a systematic review of core outcome sets and regulatory guidance', Trials. <https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/>

Macpherson, K, Aiyegbusi, OL, Elston, L, Myles, S, Washington, J, Sungum , N, Briggs, M, Newsome, P & Calvert, M 2021, 'A scoping review of patient and public perspectives on cell and gene therapies', Regenerative Medicine . https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2020-0181

CATALYST investigators, Fisher, B, Veenith, T, Slade, D, Gaskell, C, Rowland, M, Whitehouse, T, Scriven, J, Parekh, D, Balasubramaniam, M, Cooke, G, Morley, N, Gabriel, Z, Wise, M, Porter, J, McShane, H, Ho, L-P, Newsome, P, Rowe, A, Sharpe, R, Thickett, D, Bion, J, Gates, S, Richards, D & Kearns, P 2021, 'Namilumab or infliximab compared with standard of care in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (CATALYST): a randomised, multicentre, multi-arm, multistage, open-label, adaptive, phase 2, proof-of-concept trial', The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00460-4

Retzer, A, Aiyegbusi, OL, Rowe, A, Newsome, P, Douglas-Pugh, J, Khan, S, Mittal, S, Wilson, R, O'Connor, D, Campbell, L, Mitchell, SA & Calvert, M 2021, 'The value of patient-reported outcomes in early phase clinical trials', Nature Medicine.

Newsome, PN & Berg, T 2020, '2020 - A new decade of innovation for EASL.', Journal of Hepatology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2019.10.016

Eslam, M, Newsome, PN, Sarin, SK, Anstee, QM, Targher, G, Romero-gomez, M, Zelber-sagi, S, Wai-sun Wong, V, Dufour, J, Schattenberg, JM, Kawaguchi, T, Arrese, M, Valenti, L, Shiha, G, Tiribelli, C, Yki-järvinen, H, Fan, J, Grønbæk, H, Yilmaz, Y, Cortez-pinto, H, Oliveira, CP, Bedossa, P, Adams, LA, Zheng, M, Fouad, Y, Chan, W, Mendez-sanchez, N, Ahn, SH, Castera, L, Bugianesi, E, Ratziu, V & George, J 2020, 'A new definition for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: an international expert consensus statement', Journal of Hepatology, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 202-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2020.03.039

NN9931-4296 Investigators 2020, 'A placebo-controlled trial of subcutaneous semaglutide in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis', New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2028395

Sheriff, L, Khan, RS, Saborano, R, Wilkin, R, Luu, N, Gunther, UL, Hubscher, SG, Newsome, PN & Lalor, PF 2020, 'Alcoholic hepatitis and metabolic disturbance in female mice: a more tractable model than Nrf2-/- animals', Disease Models & Mechanisms, vol. 13, no. 12, dmm046383. https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.046383

Taylor, RS, Taylor, RJ, Bayliss, S, Hagström, H, Nasr, P, Schattenberg, JM, Ishigami, M, Toyoda, H, Wai-sun Wong, V, Peleg, N, Shlomai, A, Sebastiani, G, Seko, Y, Bhala, N, Younossi, ZM, Anstee, QM, Mcpherson, S & Newsome, PN 2020, 'Association between fibrosis stage and outcomes of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis', Gastroenterology, vol. 158, no. 6, pp. 1611-1625.e12. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2020.01.043

Boettler, T, Newsome, PN, Mondelli, MU, Maticic, M, Cordero, E, Cornberg, M & Berg, T 2020, 'Care of patients with liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic: EASL-ESCMID position paper.', JHEP Reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhepr.2020.100113

Horn, P & Newsome, PN 2020, 'Commentary: advances in the pharmacotherapy of NASH-anti-diabetic drugs and beyond', Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15509

Horn, P & Newsome, PN 2020, 'Editorial: re-thinking cardiovascular risk factors in NAFLD with advanced fibrosis?', Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15682

Horn, P & Newsome, PN 2020, 'Emerging therapeutic targets for NASH: key innovations at the preclinical level.', Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728222.2020.1728742

Newsome, P, Sasso, M, Deeks, J, Paredes, A, Boursier, J, Chan, WK, Yilmaz, Y, Czernichow, S, Zheng, MH, Wong, VW, Allison, M, Tsochatzis, E, Anstee, QM, Sheridan, DA, Eddowes, PJ, Guha, IN, Cobbold, JF, Paradis, V, Bedossa, P, Miette, V, Fournier-Poizat, C, Sandrin, L & Harison, SA 2020, 'FibroScan-AST (FAST) score for the non-invasive identification of patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with significant activity and fibrosis: a prospective derivation and global validation study', The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 362-373. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-1253(19)30383-8

Preprint

Fisher, BA, Veenith, T, Slade, D, Gaskell, C, Rowland, M, Whitehouse, T, Scriven, J, Parekh, D, Balasubramaniam, MS, Cooke, G, Morley, N, Gabriel, Z, Wise, MP, Porter, J, McShane, H, Ho, L-P, Newsome, PN, Rowe, A, Sharpe, R, Thickett, DR, Bion, J, Gates, S, Richards, D & Kearns, P 2021 'Namilumab or infliximab compared to standard of care in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (CATALYST): a phase 2 randomised adaptive trial' medRxiv, pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258204

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Stem cell research for liver disease; clinical interest in fatty liver disease and liver transplantation; metabolic liver disease (cystic fibrosis, porphyria, glycogen storage disease).