[:el]Konstantinos Manolopoulos is an Endocrinologist and Clinician Scientist in Endocrinology & Metabolism at the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, with a research interest in human in vivo metabolic physiology. His clinical interests range from PCOS to complex endocrine obesity.
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.
His research has shown that the reaction of adipose tissue to hormonal adjustments varies depending on where the tissue is found in the human body. He has discovered that the physiological reaction of abdominal adipose tissue during the experimental administration of adrenaline is different from that of fatty thigh tissue, as lipolysis (the release of lipids from the lipocytes) is triggered in the first, while in the second is inhibited. This is of great interest as clinical studies have shown that fat accumulation in the abdomen is associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease whereas fatty tissue of the thighs plays a protective role. The research, conducted by Dr. Konstantinos Manolopoulos, focuses on further analysis of this role, with the aim of finding mechanisms that can provide the basis for new therapies in the field of obesity and associated diseases.
Furthermore, Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos is one of the researchers of the scientific team from the University of Birmingham, who have discovered the link between increased male hormones and metabolic complications such as diabetes and fatty liver disease in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, shows that an enzyme that activates male hormones in the fat tissue of PCOS women drives their risk to develop other metabolic health complications. A common condition, believed to affect at least one in ten women in the UK, PCOS has significant impact on the life of affected women.
In addition to irregular periods and often impaired fertility, PCOS women regularly have high levels of male hormones, also termed androgens, circulating in their blood. These are known to cause problems with increased male-pattern body hair growth and acne.
The study has shown, for the first time, that abdominal fat tissue is a major source of increased male hormones in women with PCOS, and that the levels of male hormones within the fat tissue of women with PCOS far exceeds those measured in their blood. Furthermore, the researchers could show that male hormones are a major driver of metabolic changes that make women with PCOS more prone to develop diabetes and fatty liver disease.
Konstantinos Manolopoulos studied Medicine at the Universities of Bochum and Dusseldorf, in Germany in 2004. 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), where he obtained a DPhil in Clinical Medicine 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. He is also an Honorary Consultant in Endocrinology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
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