Technical Summary

Dr. Barber has a research background in the genetic and metabolic features of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome from his work as a Clinical Research Fellow whilst based at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM). This led to award of DPhil from the University of Oxford, and subsequently the prestigious ‘Society for Endocrinology Clinical Prize Lecture’ that he delivered at the British Endocrine Societies Annual Conference in 2009. He was awarded the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Divisional Research Prize in 2009.

Since 2010, Dr. Barber has been employed as an Associate Professor based at WMS, and honorary Consultant Endocrinologist at UHCW. Dr. Barber is scientific lead for research on the Human Metabolism Research Unit (HMRU). Current research interests include human brown adipose tissue and strategies to facilitate weight-loss. His roles as lead for the Obesity service at UHCW and lead for the WMS-based postgraduate module on ‘Obesity and weight-management in Diabetes’, complement well his research interests. Through collaboration with colleagues from Radiology based at WMS and UHCW, Dr. Barber published an original paper in JCEM in 2014: the first to demonstrate use of an MR-based technique for imaging brown adipose tissue in a living human adult. This research received extensive international media interest including publication in a magazine for the Radiological Society of North America (http://www.rsna.org/newsdetail.aspx?id=14254). In another HMRU-based study, Dr. Barber published data in Clinical Endocrinology on the metabolic effects of meal duration, gaining national media attention (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15447568).

Dr. Barber has published >50 papers in scientific (including 4*) peer-reviewed journals, and presents regularly as an invited speaker at national and international meetings. He engages regularly with national media on HMRU-related studies. He has secured funding to support ongoing HMRU-based studies with collaborations both within University of Warwick and externally, and aspires to continue to develop these themes.

Selected publications:

1. Hayes, MG; Urbanek, M; Ehrmann, D; Armstrong, L; Lee, JY; Sisk, R; Karaderi, T; Barber, TM; McCarthy, MI; Franks, S; Lindgren, CM; Welt, C; Diamanti-Kandarakis, E; Panidis, D; Goodarzi, M; Azziz, R; Zhang, Y; James, R; Olivier, M; Kissebah, A; Stener-Victorin, E; Legro, R; Dunaif, A (2015) Genome-wide Association of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome implicates alterations in gonadotropin secretion in European ancestry populations. Nature Communications 6, 7502 (doi 10.1038/ncomms8502)

2. Reddy, N; Peng, C; Careira, MC; Piya, MK; Hattersley, J; Halder, L; Tripathi, G; Randeva, H; Casanueva, FF; McTernan, PG; Kumar, S; Barber, TM (2015) Enhanced thermic effect of food, postprandial NEFA suppression and raised adiponectin in obese women who eat slowly Clinical Endocrinology 82 (6), 831-837. doi: 10.1111/cen.12652.

3. Reddy NL, Jones TA, Wayte SC, Adesanya O, Sankar S, Yeo YC, Tripathi G, Mcternan PG, Randeva HS, Kumar S, Hutchinson CE, Barber TM (2014) Identification of brown adipose tissue using MR imaging in a human adult with histological and immunohistochemical confirmation. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 99(1), E117-121.

4. Pal A, Barber TM, Linden H, Van de Bunt M, Levy J, Karpe F, Walker L, Gloyn AL. (2012) PTEN mutations predisposing to monogenic cancer syndrome cause constitutive insulin sensitivity and obesity in humans. New England Journal of Medicine, 367(11), 1002-1011.