Stephen O'Rahilly
Endocrinologist. Physican scientist. Director of MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge. Expressing my own opinions here, not my employers
- www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-an.... On visiting the USA last week several academic colleagues had got the impression that the UK was becoming increasingly illiberal. I would like to point them to this speech by arif ahmed which illustrates the UKs firm commitment to Academic freedom
- www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... Working with our great collaborators at Pfizer we have uncovered a common genetic contributor to metabolic ill health/
- the research illustrates how the control of adipocyte lipolysis by circulating ketone bodies is important for normal metabolic homeostasis. Thanks to the many contributors in the two Cambridges!
- nature.com/articles/s44161-025-00712-3 Interesting. But studies of GDF15 on cells used GDF15 made in mammalian cells which is always contaminated by TGFB family members (see PMID: 29161287) some of which are active at fmolar concs. Yeast or bacterially derived is fine. Qkine is good source
- Fantastic news. Processes designed to measure Research excellence should focus on whether research done at our universities is reproducible, represents a significant advance in understanding, and/or is actually or potentially useful. The rest is just prattle.
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyThe @easdnews.bsky.social Novo Nordisk Foundation Prize #Diabetes
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyExpanding metabolic roles for the GIPR in oligodendrocytes #weightloss www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
- So very sad. Davo was a truly great endocrine scientist.
- Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of an all-time-great of endocrine research, David Mangelsdorf - I just saw him at #ENDO2025, a real shock! Read his obituary here www.utsouthwestern.edu/about-us/ass... @endocrinesociety.bsky.social @esendocrinology.bsky.social @socendocrinology.bsky.social
- sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Great to see further evidence emerging supporting the pressing need for trials of preconceptional GDF15 desensitisation with metformin for prevention of severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy in women with a previous history. Congrats to @drfejzo.bsky.social
- www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/o... Amazing to see this article appear in the NYT. I hope many of my fellow endocrinologists are reading it @endocrinesociety.bsky.social
- OMG. This looks terrifying.
- In today's WSJ by their editorial board www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-...
- Mice lacking this amino acid lost 30% body weight www.nature.com/articles/d41... Am I missing something? Mice engineered to have a specific and severe defect in amino acid metabolism get sick and lose weight. Might the rush to find new weight loss targets be impairing our critical faculties ?
- Had a great time at Lund university attending their Spring Meeting. Amused to see this poster outside the lecture theatre. Those old English universities: it’s hard to tell them apart 😊
- Reposted by Stephen O'Rahilly📢 Job Vacancy! Institute of Metabolic Science @ims-mrl.bsky.social are looking for a Research Nurse to join their team. Applications open until 30th May! >>> For more info: bit.ly/4iIkrNo @cuhnhs.bsky.social @mrcepid.bsky.social @stephenorahilly.bsky.social @cambridgeuni.bsky.social
- Indeed. And so ironic that while the new administration says it is very keen to understand the effects of food on health, their actions are resulting in the closure of one the US’s most effective labs in that area @kevinh-phd.bsky.social
- www.thefp.com/p/carole-hoo.... While I applaud Harvard for standing up to the Trump government, this article is mandatory reading for anyone who doesn’t understand how it got to this point.
- UK’s supreme court rules that legal definition of woman is based on biological sex. This is a hugely important decision. Unanimous .I hope it will open up rational debate in other countries.
- I really enjoyed recording one of these with you several years ago. Wishing you well with whatever your next venture will be.
- All good things must come to an end, including this brilliant series that I was delighted to have hosted. Hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I did! Thank you @jclinical-invest.bsky.social ! And all the Giants who trusted me to help tell their stories.
- Almut Gadow v Open University genderblog.net/almut-gadow-... This piece is from Nick Wallis, the journalist whose doigged research exposed the Post Office Scandal. He is now taking a serious interest in an area that is increasingly affecting UK universities.Worth a read
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyCome and study with us for a Masters!
- @ims-mrl.bsky.social @uniofcam.bsky.social full-time taught MPhil in Obesity, Endocrinology and Metabolism for 2025/2026 Application deadline 4th April!!! High quality postgrad training in physiology & pathophysiology of energy balance & metabolism. 🛜 mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/study-us/tau...
- The absence of data on biological sex is an affront to reality www.thetimes.com/article/7463...
- Honoured to be in Baden-Baden to receive the Berthold Medal from the German Endocrine Society and give the abet gold lecture. Really great questions from a wonderfully engaged and responsive audience. Thanks to #JensBruining for his very kind introduction.
- Sorry. That should be the Berthold Lecture!
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyThis International Women's Day, we celebrate as women advocate for change, equity, & inclusivity paving the way for future generations of women scientists Meet Agnes Lukasik, Patient and Public Involvement & Engagement Manager @ims-mrl.bsky.social #IWD2025 #AccelerateAction @mrcepid.bsky.social
- www.city-journal.org/article/new-... I was shocked when a recent Perspective in @NEJM disregarded the most thorough, unbiased, science-based assessment of the risk/benefits of taking a pharamacological approach to minors asking for help in relation to their biological sex/
- cass.independent-review.uk/home/publica.... This article reveals how and why that happened at @nejm.org. In no other area of medicine would the conflict of interest revealed been allowed, or at least allowed to remain undeclared
- adiposetissue.org: A knowledge portal integrating clinical and experim... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Thanks to the authors for providing a great online tool for the community
- www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Interesting but report of liver autonomous effects of MC3R a bit surprising given the very low expression of MC3R in liver, at least in humans
- www.science.org/content/arti... Unless he radically changes his approach, which seems unliely, this could be very bad news for US public health and biomedical science. He is actvely campaiigning againsyt HPV vaccination which is abolishing cervical cancer and mainatining an excellent safety record
- see nationally commissioned and extremely rigorous Cass Report ( cass.independent-review.uk/home/publica...)
- www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... . States that gender affirming care (incl puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in minors) is "essential, evidence-based, and often lifesaving". In no other field would the @NEJM advocate for therapies with such a weak evidence base.
- www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... . States that gender affirming care (incl puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in minors) is "essential, evidence-based, and often lifesaving". In no other field would the @NEJM advocate for therapies with such a weak evidence base.
- www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/h.... Looking chic John! @busediabetes.
- www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Anyone working in the NHS should be aware of how it is treating its female staff. This is in the Observer, a traditonal newspaper of the centre-left, so not a "culture war" piece. Just a sober statemnt of facts.
- Endothelial insulin resistance induced by adrenomedullin mediates obesity-associated diabetes | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Interesting and novel idea. Worth digging deep into in humans to see if it pans out
- The US biotech and pharma industry leads the world and generates huge income for the US. The large state investment in underpinning science and training is v likely a big factor in creating this favourable environment.
- Just reeling from doing a back of the envelope calculation. The UK (population 68M) taxpayer (via the government) invests ~£2b pa in biomedical research. The US (pop 350M) taxpayer invests ~£40b Pa. The average US taxpayer invests four times as much as UK. And the US is a “low tax” country. Wow.
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyHuge congratulations to former BSN President Giles Yeo, his team and collaborators for this incredible work creating a spacial map of the human hypothalamus - the HypoMap is out!
- I am excited to share our latest paper @Nature where we construct a hi-res spatial map of the human hypothalamus, the brain region central in appetite control. It is a collaboration between @IMS_MRL @Cambridge_Uni & @MPI_Metabolism www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- www.nature.com/articles/s41... Great to see independent confirmation of our recent work co-led Sam Lockkhart and Milan Muso PMID: 39322746 reporting that LXR alpha protects against cholesterol toxity in the liver
- Reposted by Stephen O'RahillyHeartbreaking Am so grateful to work in the NHS where care is free at the point of need Nye Bevan was right “Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community”
- rdcu.be/d717N. Bit weird. C5Orf24 is ubiquitously expressed, has a nuclear localisation signal and no signal peptide./
- Can it really have hormonal actions at a distant cell surface receptor? This is eerily reminiscent of "cholesin" published in Cell last year. Again, a very unlikely hormone. All things are possible, but if something doesnt look in the least like a hormone then the burden of proof is very high.
- Discussing trans on the radio genderblog.net/discussing-t.... Nick Wallis is the tenacious journalist who revealed the Post Office scandal. He has started to write a blog about sex and gender. He will be worth reading. He describes this topic as one of the most important of our age.
- Honoured to be the inaugural deliverer of a lecture honouring these two great Cambridge neuroscientists
- Happy to launch inaugural Compston-Robbins Plenary Lecture - estd to honour member of @camneuro.bsky.social that has contributed significantly. Named in honour of Profs Alastair Compston & Trevor Robbins (founding Directors of Cam Neuro), We're delighted to award this to @stephenorahilly.bsky.social
- We’ve known for decades that leptin provides a fat cell derived critical signal of nutritional sufficiency to enter puberty. Now we know that muscle mass signals to the central control pubertal onset via myostatin. To my mind this is the most convincing hormonal myokine to date.
- Muscle-derived myostatin is a major endocrine driver of follicle-stimulating hormone synthesis | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…. Major advance in endocrinology. So fascinating that new important hormonal actions of TGFBeta family members are still being discovered.
- Muscle-derived myostatin is a major endocrine driver of follicle-stimulating hormone synthesis | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…. Major advance in endocrinology. So fascinating that new important hormonal actions of TGFBeta family members are still being discovered.
