Dr Christian Ludwig

Christian Ludwig

Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research
Associate Professor in Metabolic Biophysics
IMSR Lead for Academic Integrity

Contact details

Email
c.ludwig@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Funded by the Higher Education Founding Council of England (HEFCE)

Biography

Career History

  • 2015 - Lecturer for Metabolic Biophysics, University of Birmingham
  • 2008-2015 -Scientific Officer for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy, University of Birmingham
  • 2004-2008 - Computer Systems Architect (HWB-NMR), University of Birmingham
  • 2001-2004 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London
  • 2001- PhD (Biochemistry), JWG University Frankfurt
  • 1995- Diploma (Biochemistry), JWB University Frankfurt

Research

Research in Christian's group is focused on the development of novel experimental and analytical approaches to map metabolic pathway activities without necessarily assuming a particular metabolism model for a given cell type with a strong focus on studying metabolism of ex-vivo perfused kidneys.

The primary method the research group uses and is developing is NMR- and GC/MS-based metabolic pathway analysis and tracking stable isotope tracer-based metabolic flux (http://nmrlab.org.uk). These approaches are driving the growth of disease diagnostics through their ability to map and quantitate systems of metabolites which are linked to genetic and proteomic alterations. The approach would is geared to identify new pathways and metabolic responses. Mammalian cells present a diversity of complex metabolic networks that are compartmentalized and governed by poorly understood regulatory processes. Hence it is very difficult to predict the parts of the metabolic pathways that are important.

The research group's approach is based on Combined Analysis of NMR and MS Spectra (CANMS), leading to synergies which allow for the accurate identification of isotopomer distributions from key metabolites that can then be used as input for guiding metabolism simulation.

Group members

PhD Students: Jay Nath; Thomas Smith

Major collaborators

Dan Tennant (University of Birmingham), Marta Cascante (University of Barcelona), Adrian Harris (University of Oxford), Stefano Tiziani (University of Austen, Texas), Farhat Khanim (University of Birmingham), Ulrich Günther (University of Birmingham), Patrick Pollard (University of Edinburgh), Guy Pratt (University of Birmingham)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

GENEVA collaborators 2022, 'Effect of BMI on safety of bariatric surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic, procedure choice, and safety protocols - an analysis from the GENEVA Study', Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 249-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2022.06.003

GENEVA collaborators, Singhal, R, Wiggins, T, Pouwels, S, Rajeev, Y, Madhok, B, Hanif, W, Tahrani, AA, Graham, Y, Ludwig, C & Mahawar, K 2022, 'Handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Bariatric Surgical Practice: Analysis of GENEVA Study Database', Obesity surgery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-022-06267-7

Grech, O, Seneviratne, S, Alimajstorovic, Z, Yiangou, A, Mitchell, J, Smith, T, Mollan, S, Lavery, G, Ludwig, C & Sinclair, A 2022, 'Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy metabolomics in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension to identify markers of disease and headache', Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000201007

GENEVA collaborators 2022, 'Safety of Bariatric Surgery in ≥ 65-Year-Old Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic', Obesity surgery, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-022-06067-z

GENEVA collaborators 2021, '30-Day Morbidity and Mortality of Bariatric Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Multinational Cohort Study of 7704 Patients from 42 Countries', Obesity surgery, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 4272-4288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-021-05493-9

Singhal, R, Wiggins, T, Super, J, Alqahtani, A, Nadler, EP, Ludwig, C, Tahrani, A & Mahawar, K 2021, '30-Day morbidity and mortality of bariatric metabolic surgery in adolescence during the COVID-19 pandemic - The GENEVA study', Pediatric Obesity, vol. 16, no. 12, e12832. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12832

GENEVA collaborators 2021, '30-day morbidity and mortality of sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and one anastomosis gastric bypass: a propensity score-matched analysis of the GENEVA data', International Journal of Obesity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-01048-1

Sinton, M, Meseguer-Ripolles, J, Lucendo-Villarin, B, Wernig-Zorc, S, Thomson, J, Carter, R, Lyall, M, Walker, P, Thakker, A, Meehan, R, Lavery, G, Morton, N, Ludwig, C, Tennant, D, Hay, D & Drake, A 2021, 'A human pluripotent stem cell model for the analysis of metabolic dysfunction in hepatic steatosis', iScience, vol. 24, no. 1, 101931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101931

Singhal, R, Tahrani, AA, Sakran, N, Herrera, M, Menon, V, Khaitan, M, Foschi, D, Super, J, Sandvik, J, Angrisani, L, Kawahara, N, Teixeira, J, Campos, GM, Kothari, S, Graham, Y, Ludwig, C & Mahawar, K 2021, 'Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on global Bariatric surgery PRActiceS – The COBRAS study', Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 395-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2021.04.005

Singhal, R, Tahrani, A, Ludwig, C, Mahawar, K & GENEVA collaborators 2021, 'Global 30-day outcomes after bariatric surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic (GENEVA): an international cohort study', The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, vol. 9, no. 1, 7-9, pp. 7-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30375-2

Westgate, C, Botfield, H, Alimajstorovic, Z, Yiangou, A, Walsh, M, Smith, G, Singhal, R, Mitchell, J, Grech, O, Markey, K, Hebenstreit, D, Tennant, D, Tomlinson, J, Mollan, S, Ludwig, C, Akerman, I, Lavery, G & Sinclair, A 2021, 'Systemic and adipocyte transcriptional and metabolic dysregulation in idiopathic intracranial hypertension', JCI Insight, vol. 6, no. 10, e145346. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.145346

Schnelle, M, Chong, M, Zoccarato, A, Elkenani, M, Sawyer, GJ, Hasenfuss, G, Ludwig, C & Shah, AM 2020, 'In vivo [U-13C]glucose labeling to assess heart metabolism in murine models of pressure and volume overload', American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, vol. 319, no. 2, pp. 422-431. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00219.2020

Jeeves, M, Roberts, J & Ludwig, C 2020, 'Optimised collection of non-uniformly sampled 2D-HSQC NMR spectra for use in metabolic flux analysis', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrc.5089

Titma, T, Shin, MJ, Ludwig, C, Günther, UL, Pikta, M, Zemtsovskaja, G, Viigimaa, M, Tanner, R & Samoson, A 2019, 'The metabolic profile of stable ischemic heart disease by serum 1H NMR', Applied Magnetic Resonance, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 527-539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00723-018-1084-0

Working paper

Stanulović, VS, Reed, MAC, Patani, H, Potluri, S, Georgiadou, E, Roberts, J, Sarkar, S, Pratt, G, Jones, AM, Günther, U, Ludwig, C & Hoogenkamp, M 2020 'Proliferation and survival of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia depends on mTOR-regulated glutamine uptake and EAAT1-dependent conversion of glutamine to aspartate and nucleotides' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.08.939694

View all publications in research portal

Culture and collections

Schools, institutes and departments

Services and facilities