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

LiverScreen Consortium Investigators 2023, 'Correction: LiverScreen project: study protocol for screening for liver fibrosis in the general population in European countries', BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 923. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15867-6

McMullan, C, Retzer, A, Hughes, S, Aiyegbusi, OL, Bathurst, C, Boyd, A, Coleman, J, Davies, EH, Denniston, A, Dunster, H, Frost, C, Harding, R, Hunn, A, Kyte, D, Malpass, R, McNamara, G, Mitchell, SA, Mittal, S, Newsome, P, Price, G, Rowe, A, van Reil, W, Walker, A, Wilson, R & Calvert, M 2023, 'Development and usability testing of an electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) solution for patients with inflammatory diseases in an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) basket trial', Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes. <https://jpro.springeropen.com/>

Ravaioli, F, Dajti, E, Mantovani, A, Newsome, PN, Targher, G & Colecchia, A 2023, 'Diagnostic accuracy of FibroScan-AST (FAST) score for the non-invasive identification of patients with fibrotic non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis', Gut. https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328689

Vaikunthanathan, T, Landmann, E, Correa, DM, Romano, M, Trevelin, SC, Peng, Q, Crespo, E, Corrado, M, Lozano, J-J, Pearce, EL, Perpinan, E, Zoccarato, A, Siew, L, Edwards-Hicks, J, Khan, R, Luu, N-T, Thursz, MR, Newsome, PN, Martinez-Llordella, M, Shah, N, Lechler, RI, Shah, AM, Sanchez-Fueyo, A, Lombardi, G & Safinia, N 2023, 'Dysregulated anti-oxidant signalling and compromised mitochondrial integrity negatively influence regulatory T cell function and viability in liver disease', EBioMedicine, vol. 95, 104778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104778

Sanyal, AJ, Foucquier, J, Younossi, ZM, Harrison, SA, Newsome, PN, Chan, W-K, Yilmaz, Y, Ledinghen, VD, Costentin, C, Zheng, M-H, Wong, VW-S, Elkhashab, M, Huss, RS, Myers, RP, Roux, M, Labourdette, A, Destro, M, Fournier-Poizat, C, Miette, V, Sandrin, L & Boursier, J 2023, 'Enhanced diagnosis of advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis in individuals with NAFLD using FibroScan-based Agile scores', Journal of Hepatology, vol. 78, no. 2, pp. 247-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2022.10.034

Pollok, JM, Tinguely, P, Berenguer, M, Niemann, CU, Raptis, DA, Spiro, M, collaborative, ERASOLT & Newsome, P 2023, 'Enhanced recovery for liver transplantation: recommendations from the 2022 International Liver Transplantation Society consensus conference', The lancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-1253(22)00268-0

Martino, VD, Questiaux, J, Lemagoarou, T, Weil, D, Vendeville, S, Engelmann, C, Hu, J, Singh, V, Newsome, PN, Lal, SB, Sarin, SK, Berg, T & Thevenot, T 2023, 'Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor in decompensated cirrhosis, acute alcoholic hepatitis, and acute-on-chronic liver failure: a comprehensive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials', Clinics and Research in Hepatology and Gastroenterology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinre.2023.102207

Khan, S, Mahgoub, S, Fallatah, N, Lalor, PF & Newsome, PN 2023, 'Liver disease and cell therapy - advances made and remaining challenges', Stem Cells. https://doi.org/10.1093/stmcls/sxad029

Pennisi, G, Enea, M, Falco, V, Aithal, GP, Palaniyappan, N, Yilmaz, Y, Boursier, J, Cassinotto, C, de Lédinghen, V, Chan, WK, Mahadeva, S, Eddowes, P, Newsome, P, Karlas, T, Wiegand, J, Wong, VW-S, Schattenberg, JM, Labenz, C, Kim, W, Lee, MS, Lupsor-Platon, M, Cobbold, JFL, Fan, J-G, Shen, F, Staufer, K, Trauner, M, Stauber, R, Nakajima, A, Yoneda, M, Bugianesi, E, Younes, R, Gaia, S, Zheng, M-H, Cammà, C, Anstee, QM, Mózes, FE, Pavlides, M & Petta, S 2023, 'Noninvasive assessment of liver disease severity in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes', Hepatology, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 195-211. https://doi.org/10.1097/HEP.0000000000000351

Boursier, J, Roux, M, Costentin, C, Chaigneau, J, Fournier-Poizat, C, Trylesinski, A, Canivet, CM, Michalak, S, Le Bail, B, Paradis, V, Bedossa, P, Sturm, N, de Ledinghen, V & Newsome, PN 2023, 'Practical diagnosis of cirrhosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using currently available non-invasive fibrosis tests', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 5219 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40328-4

Vilar-Gomez, E, Vuppalanchi, R, Mladenovic, A, Samala, N, Gawrieh, S, Newsome, PN & Chalasani, N 2023, 'Prevalence of High-risk Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) in the United States: Results from NHANES 2017-2018', Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 115-124.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2021.12.029

Ast, J, Nasteska, D, Fine, NHF, Nieves, DJ, Koszegi, Z, Lanoiselée, Y, Cuozzo, F, Viloria, K, Bacon, A, Luu, NT, Newsome, PN, Calebiro, D, Owen, DM, Broichhagen, J & Hodson, DJ 2023, 'Revealing the tissue-level complexity of endogenous glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor expression and signaling', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 301. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35716-1

NN9931-4492 investigators 2023, 'Semaglutide 2·4 mg once weekly in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-related cirrhosis: a randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial', The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 511-522. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(23)00068-7

Garg, A, Khan, S, Luu, N, Nicholas, DJ, Day, V, King, AL, Fear, J, Lalor, PF & Newsome, PN 2023, 'TGFβ1 priming enhances CXCR3-mediated mesenchymal stromal cell engraftment to the liver and enhances anti-inflammatory efficacy', Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 864-878. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcmm.17698

Khan, RS, Lalor, PF, Thursz, M & Newsome, P 2023, 'The role of neutrophils in alcohol-related hepatitis', Journal of Hepatology, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 1037-1048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2023.05.017

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).