Professor Philip Newsome PhD, FRCPE

Professor Philip Newsome

Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Professor of Experimental Hepatology and Hon Consultant Hepatologist. Director of the Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research
Director of the Midlands & Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre. Deputy Director of the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre
Vice-Secretary of the European Association for the Study of the Liver

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8700
Telephone (2)
+44 (0)121 414 5614
Email
p.n.newsome@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Centre for Liver Research 5th Floor
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 Professor of Experimental Hepatology and Director of the Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research as well as Director of the Midlands and Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre. 

Philip has published over 100 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 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 Vice-Secretary 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. 

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

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 BMedSci, 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 BMedSci course (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 Philip on the contact details above, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email: dr@contacts.bham.ac.uk or call +44 (0)121 414 5005.

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. Demonstration of efficacy in this trial would have a major impact in the NHS given the rising levels of liver cirrhosis in the UK and the lack of effective therapies at present. 

Stem 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 UHBFT 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

  • Hepatology vice-president of the British Society of Gastroenterology
  • Clinical lead for metabolic liver disease at the Liver Unit, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
  • Expert advisor for the Association of Glycogen Storage Disorders

Publications

  1. Newsome PN, Bathgate AJ, Henderson NC, MacGilchrist AJ, Plevris JN, Masterton G, Garden OJ, Lee A, Hayes PC and Simpson KJ. Referral patterns and social deprivation in paracetamol-induced liver injury in Scotland; has the legislation worked? Lancet 2001 Nov; 358 (9293): 1612-1613.
  2. Newsome PN, Johannessen I, Boyle S, McAulay K, Samuel K, Rae F, Forrester L, Turner M, Hayes PC, Harrison DJ, Bickmore WA, Plevris JN. Human cord-blood derived cells can differentiate into hepatocytes in the mouse liver with no evidence of cellular fusion. Gastroenterology 2003 July; 124 (7): 1891-1901.
  3. Hay DC, Fletcher J, Payne C, Terrace JD, Gallagher RC, Snoeys J, Black J, Wojtacha D, Samuel K, Hannoun Z, Pryde A, Filippi C, Currie IS, Forbes S, Ross JA, Newsome PN†, Iredale JP†. († joint senior authors). Modelling Hepatic Endoderm Development: Highly Efficient Differentiation of hESCs to Functional Hepatic Endoderm Requires ActivinA and Wnt3a Signalling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 21.
  4. Armstrong MJ, Houlihan DD, Bentham L, Shaw JC, Cramb R, Olliff S, Gill PS, Neuberger JM, Lilford RJ, Newsome PN. Presence and severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a large prospective primary care cohort. J Hepatol. 2011 May 18.
  5. Dowman JK, Watson D, Loganathan S, Gunson BK, Hodson J, Mirza DF, Clarke J, Lloyd C, Honeybourne D, Whitehouse JL, Nash EF, Kelly D, van Mourik I, Newsome PN. Long-Term Impact of Liver Transplantation on Respiratory Function and Nutritional Status in Children and Adults with Cystic Fibrosis. Am J Transplant. 2012 Jan 6.
  6. Aldridge V, Garg A, Davies N, Bartlett DC, Youster J, Beard H, Kavanagh DP, Kalia N, Frampton J, Lalor PF, Newsome PN. Human mesenchymal stem cells are recruited to injured liver in a β1 integrin and CD44 dependent manner. Hepatology. 2012 Sep;56(3):1063-73.
  7. Dowman JK, Hopkins LJ, Reynolds GM, Nikolaou N, Armstrong MJ, Shaw JC, Houlihan DD, Lalor PF, Tomlinson JW, Hübscher SG, Newsome PN. Development of hepatocellular carcinoma in a murine model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis induced by use of a high-fat/fructose diet and sedentary lifestyle. Am J Pathol. 2014 May;184(5):1550-61.
  8. Wilhelm A, Aldridge V, Haldar D, Naylor AJ, Weston CJ, Garg A, Fear J, Reynolds GM, Croft AP, Henderson NC, Buckley CD, Newsome PN. CD248/Endosialin critically regulates hepatic stellate cell proliferation during chronic liver injury via a PDGF regulated mechanism. Gut. 2015 Jun 15. pii: gutjnl-2014-308325.
  9. Armstrong MJ, Hull D, Guo K, Barton D, Hazlehurst JM, Gathercole LL, Nasiri M, Yu J, Gough SC, Newsome PN†, Tomlinson JW† († joint senior authors). Glucagon-like peptide 1 decreases lipotoxicity in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. J Hepatol. 2016 Feb;64(2):399-408. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2015.08.038. Epub 2015 Sep 21.
  10. Armstrong MJ, Gaunt P, Aithal GP, Barton D, Hull D, Parker R, Hazlehurst JM, Guo K, Abouda G, Aldersley MA, Stocken D, Gough SC, Tomlinson JW, Brown RM, Hu¨bscher SG, Newsome PN. Liraglutide efficacy and action in Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (lean): a multi-centre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase II trial. Lancet. 2016 Feb 13;387(10019):679-90. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00803-X. Epub 2015 Nov 20.
  11. King A, Houlihan DD, Kavanagh D, Haldar D, Luu N, Owen A, Suresh S, Than NN, Reynolds G, Penny J, Sumption H, Ramachandran P, Henderson NC, Kalia N, Frampton J, Adams DH, Newsome PN. Sphingosine-1-phosphate Prevents Egress of Hematopoietic Stem Cells From Liver to Reduce Fibrosis. Gastroenterology. 2017 Mar 28.
  12. Newsome PN, Fox R, King AL, Barton D, Than NN, Moore J, Corbett C, Townsend S, Thomas J, Guo K, Hull D, Beard HA, Thompson J, Atkinson A, Bienek C, McGowan N, Guha N, Campbell J, Hollyman D, Stocken D, Yap C, Forbes SJ. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and autologous CD133-positive stem-cell therapy in liver cirrhosis (REALISTIC): an open-label, randomised, controlled phase 2 trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018 Jan
  13. Eddowes PJ, Sasso M, Allison M, Tsochatzis E, Anstee QM, Sheridan D, Guha IN, Cobbold JF, Deeks JJ, Paradis V, Bedossa P, Newsome PN. Accuracy of FibroScan Controlled Attenuation Parameter and Liver Stiffness Measurement in Assessing Steatosis and Fibrosis in Patients With Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Gastroenterology. 2019

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)