Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos MD DPhil

Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research
Hoffenberg Clinician Scientist in Endocrinology and Human Metabolism

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7525
Fax
+44 121 415 8712
Email
k.manolopoulos@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@manolotino
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Konstantinos Manolopoulos is a Clinician Scientist in Endocrinology with a research interest in human in vivo metabolic physiology. He is exploring the hormonal determinants of adipose tissue function, and is particularly interested in the factors causing adipocyte dysfunction in obesity. Furthermore, he investigates the cross-talk between adipose tissue and other organs such as gut, liver and muscle. He is responsible for the Human Integrative Physiology and Metabolism lab at the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility. His research is funded by the Society for Endocrinology and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

He is an Honorary Consultant in Endocrinology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and his clinical interests range from PCOS to complex endocrine obesity.

Qualifications

  • DPhil Clinical Medicine 2011
  • MD 2005
  • MBChB 2004

Biography

Konstantinos Manolopoulos qualified in Medicine from the University of Dusseldorf, Germany in 2004. His core medical training was at the University Hospitals Dusseldorf and Bochum, Germany. He obtained an academic MD from the University of Bochum with a thesis on the effect of a collagen polymorphism on the severity of coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes. In 2007, he relocated to the UK and joined the University of Oxford as a Wellcome-Trust funded Clinical Research Fellow at the Oxford Laboratory for Integrative Physiology (Oxlip). Under the supervision and mentorship of Prof. Keith Frayn and Prof. Fredrik Karpe, he conducted in vivo research in human adipose tissue physiology. He obtained a DPhil in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford in 2011. He joined the University of Birmingham as a Clinical Lecturer at the Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (CEDAM) in 2011. In 2015 he became a HEFCE-funded Clinician Scientist in Endocrinology at the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research.

Teaching

  • MBChB – Obesity
  • BMedSci – Adipocyte biology
  • BClinSci – In vivo metabolism assessment
  • MPharm – Biology of absorptive and postabsorptive state

Postgraduate supervision

Konstantinos Manolopoulos is interested in supervising medical students studying for intercalated degrees, as well as doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Hormonal determinants of human adipose tissue function in vivo
  • Determinants of adipocyte dysfunction in obesity
  • The cross-talk between adipose tissue and peripheral organs, and the effect of exercise

If you are interested in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Manolopoulos on the contact details above.

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/metabolism-systems/research/integrative-metabolic-physiology-obesity/index.aspx

Research

Konstantinos Manolopoulos’ research interest is in human metabolic in vivo physiology and pathophysiology, with a special interest in adipose tissue and obesity. He is interested in the hormonal determinants of adipose tissue function, and in particular what determines adipose tissue dysfunction leading to the deleterious health effects of obesity. Furthermore, he studies the cross-talk between adipose tissue and other organs, such as gut, liver and muscle.

He studies the function of human metabolic tissues under “near normal” conditions using a range of gold standard integrative physiology techniques such as the arterio-venous difference technique, stable isotope tracer methodology and xenon washout for selective measurements of fatty acid trafficking and adipose tissue blood flow. He also applies integrative physiology methods across muscle in vivo, using the arterio-venous difference technique and venous occlusion plethysmography for muscle blood flow measurements. These methods are complemented by in vitro cell culture-based work, helping to elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind tissue dysfunction.

Find out more about Konstantinos' research here

Publications

Kumarendran B*, O'Reilly M.W*, Manolopoulos K.N*, Toulis KA, Gokhale K.M, Sitch A.J, Wijeyaratne C.N, Coomarasamy A, Arlt W, Nirantharakumar K (2018) Polycystic ovary syndrome, androgen excess, and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in women: A longitudinal study based on a United Kingdom primary care database; PLoS Med. Mar 28;15(3):e1002542 *joint first authors

Hornby C, Botfield H, O'Reilly M.W, Westgate C, Mitchell J, Mollan S.P, Manolopoulos K.N, Tomlinson J, Sinclair A (2017) Evaluating the Fat Distribution in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Using Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Scanning, Neuroophthalmology. 2017 Jun 20;42(2):99-104.

O'Reilly M.W, Kempegowda P, Walsh M, Taylor AE, Manolopoulos K.N, Allwood J.W, Semple R.K, Hebenstreit D, Dunn W.B, Tomlinson J.W, Arlt W (2017) AKR1C3-mediated adipose androgen generation drives lipotoxicity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome, J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Sep 1;102(9):3327-3339.

Scotney H, Symonds M.E, Law J, Budge H, Sharkey D, Manolopoulos K.N (2017); Glucocorticoids modulate human brown adipose tissue thermogenesis in vivo, Metabolism, May; 70: 125-32

Manolopoulos K.N, O’Reilly M.W, Bujalska I.J, Tomlinson J.W, Arlt W (2017) Acute hypercortisolemia exerts depot-specific effects on abdominal and femoral adipose tissue function. J Clin Endocrinol Metab Apr 1;102(4):1091-1101.

Nicholson G, Pinnick K.E, Manolopoulos K.N, McQuaid S.E, Valet P, Frayn K.N,  Denton N, Min J.L, Zondervan K.T, Fleckner J, The MolPAGE consortium, McCarthy M.I, Holmes C.C, Karpe F (2014) Gluteofemoral adipose tissue resists molecular adaptations associated with obesity-related complications, Diabetes, Nov; 63 (11): 3785-97

McNelis J.C, Manolopoulos K.N, Gathercole L.L, Bujalska I.J, Stewart P.M, Tomlinson J.W, Arlt W (2013) Dehydroepiandrosterone exerts anti-glucocorticoid action on human preadipocyte proliferation, differentiation and glucose uptake, Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, Nov; 305 (9): E1134-44

Manolopoulos K.N, Karpe F, Frayn K.N (2012) Marked resistance of femoral adipose tissue blood flow and lipolysis to adrenaline in vivo, Diabetologia, Nov; 55 (11): 3029-37

Hughes K.A, Manolopoulos K.N, Iqbal J, Cruden N.L, Stimson R.H, Reynolds R.M, Newby D.E, Andrew R, Karpe F, Walker B.R (2012) Recycling between cortisol and cortisone in human splanchnic, subcutaneous adipose, and skeletal muscle tissues in vivo. Diabetes 61 (6):1357-64

Thompson D, Manolopoulos K.N, Bouloumié A (2012) Arterio-venous differences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells across human adipose tissue and the effect of adrenaline infusion. Int J Obesity,Sep; 36 (9): 1256-8

For a full list of Dr Manolopoulos's publications

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