The Diabetes Research Group was established in late 2005 and has particular interests obesity and adipose biology, the genetics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and associated complications, in particular cardiovascular disease and renal failure.

Professor Stephen Bain was appointed to a newly created Chair in Medicine (Diabetes) at Swansea University's College of Medicine in 2005 and his clinical interests include the genetics of type 1 diabetes services within the community.  Professor Bain is the Diabetes Lead Clinician for the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, a member of the Wales Endocrine and Diabetes Society executive committee and he sits on the Vascular Project Group, which was established in 2009 by the Welsh Assembly Government's Minister for Health and Social Services.  Professor Bain is involved in collaborative links with many other centres throughout the UK and beyond.

Dr Jeffrey Stephens was appointed to Swansea University in 2005 and is currently a Reader in Diabetic Medicine and Consultant Physician at Morriston Hospital, part of Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board.  Dr Stevens has a particular interest in the pathophysiology of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Current work focuses on the association between inflammation, oxidative stress and impaired glucose homeostasis and their relevance to ‘prediabetes’ and established diabetes. Close links exist both within Swansea (e.g. bariatric surgery, clinical epidemiology, reproductive biology) and with other centres (e.g. University College London).  Dr Stevens is also the Associate Dean for Academic Careers within the Welsh School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education.  Previously he was RCP tutor and Postgraduate Organiser at Morriston Hospital.

Dr Sarah Prior joined the Diabetes Research Group in 2007 after achieving a PhD in cancer genetics at Swansea University.  Sarah has particular interests in type 2 diabetes and its links with obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Other areas of research include the interfaces between clinical diabetes research and community-delivered diabetes health-care, engineering-related advances in diabetes care delivery (laser assessment of the diabetic foot, analysis of exhaled metabolites associated with diabetes complications) and mobile-health applications. In addition, the Diabetes Research Group is actively involved in the expansion of Clinical Trial Research within Swansea NHS Trust. Swansea is involved in several multicentre international pharmacological trials in diabetes.

Click here to find out more about current areas of research

 

Academic Staff
Professor Stephen Bain
Dr Jeffrey Stephens
Dr Sarah Prior (Senior Research officer)
Dr Julie Collins (F1 academic)
Dr Meurig Williams (Honorary Senior Lecturer)
Dr David Price (Honorary Senior Lecturer)

PhD Students
Danielle Jones (PhD student - Diabetes)
Richard Morton (PhD student - Exercise)
Daniel West (PhD student - Exercise)
Lisa-Marie Wilson (PhD student - molecular cell biology)

Collaborators at Swansea University
Prof John Baxter (Surgery)
Prof Rhys Williams (Clinical Epidemiology)
Prof Venkateswarlu Kanarmarlapudi (Molecular cell biology)
Dr Richard Bracken (Exercise physiology)
Dr Cathy Thornton (Immunity and allergy)
Dr Sinead Brophy (Clinical Epidemiology)
Dr Helen Davies (Clinical epidemiology)
Dr Caroline Brooks (CHIRAL)
Clinical Research Unit, Morriston Hospital

Current areas of interests
(i) Basic Sciences
 - Genetics of renal complications in type 1 and type 2 diabetes; Cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes; Biochemical markers associated with cardiovascular and renal disease in diabetes.
 - Adipose - Adiopose tissue as an endochrine organ
 - Hyperglycaemia and the neonate - The effect of glucose on neonatal immune and endothelial function.
(ii) Clinical Sciences
 - Bariatric surgery as a tool to investigate the role of incretin hormones in obesity and associated metabolic dysfunction; cardiac function; autonomic function.
 - Postprandial glucose regulation and oxidative stress.
 - Exercise based rehabilitation and cardiac risk after renal transplantation.
(iii) Exercise and Physiology
 - Comparison and metabolic effects in type 1 diabetes; factors pertaining to the occurrence of late-onset hypoglycaemia in the exercising type 1 diabetes patient; exercise programmes in type 2 diabetes.
(iv) Epidemiology and Health informatics
 - Prediabetes; latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, GP and public information analysis (SAIL dataset).
(v) Clinial Trials
 - We may host phase III clinical trials relevant to type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  These are co-ordinated from the clinical research unit at Morriston Hospital.

 

MPhil / MD / PhD Enquiries

Links
Monitoring the epidemic of childhood diabetes by means of routinely collected data
Health services research projects related to diabetes and related conditions
LADA: Research on Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults

 

Publications

Dr Sarah Prior (2007-2010)
Prior SL, Tang TS, Gill GV, Bain SC, Stephens JW.  Adiponectin, total antioxidant status and urine protein excretion in the low risk 'Golden Years' Type 1 diabetes cohort.  Metabolism (accepted)

Brooks CJ, Stephens JW, Price DE, Ford DV, Lyons RA, Prior SL, Bain SC.  Use of a patient linked date warehouse to facilitate diabetes trial recruitment from primary care.  Primary Care Diabetes 2009; 3: 245-248

Prior SL, Bain SC, Stephens JW, Alam I, Baxter JN.  Total anitoxidant status before and after bariatric surgery for type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Metabolism 2009; 58: 1366

Prior SL, Gable D, Bain SC, Hurel SJ, Humphries, Stephens SE, Stephens JW.  Association between the adiponectin promoter rs266729 gene variant and oxidative stress in patients with diabetes mellitus.  Eur. Heart J 2009; 30: 1263-1269

Prior SL, Javid J, Gill GV, Bain SC, Stephens JW.  The adiponectin re17300539 G>A variant and nephropathy risk.  Kidney Int. 2008; 74: 1361

Professor Stephen Bain and Dr Jeffrey Stephens (2007-2010)
Natajaran B, Edavalath M, Davies J, Jenkins L, Marshall-Richards N, Evans D, Price DE, Bain SC, Stephens JW.  Clinical experience with exenatide in routine secondary care diabetes clinic.  Prima Care Diabetes 2009 Dec 16 [Epub ahead of print].

Stephens JW, Khanolkar MP, Bain SC. The biological relevance and measurement of plasma markers of oxidative stress in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis. 2009;202(2):321-9

Brooks CJ, Stephens JW, Price DE, Ford DV, Lyons RA, Prior SL, Bain SC.  Use of a patient linked data warehouse to facilitate diabetes trial recruitment from primary care.  Primary Care Diabetes 2009 Nov; 3(4): 245-8

Brooks CJ, Tang TS, Ford DV, Lyons RA, Price DE, Bain SC, Stephens.  Are blood pressure levels taken during secondary care diabetic clinic likely to be higher than when measured in primary care? Prim Care Diabetes 2009 Aug; 3(3): 193-5

Davies h, Brophy S, Bain SC, Stephens JW, Lewis J, Luzio S, Dunseath G, Beaverstock C, Williams DR.  GADA testing: the current state of knowledge.  Prim Care Diabetes.  2009 Aug 3(3): 189-91

Bain SC, Stephens JW. Exenatide and pancreatitis: an update. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2008;7(6):643-4.

Stephens JW, Bain SC, Humphries SE. Gene-environment interaction and oxidative stress in cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis. 2008;200(2):229-38.

Brophy S, Davies H, Bain S, Stephens JW, Cheung WY, Richards K, Wareham K, Beaverstock C, Lloyd J, Page D, Williams M, Russell I, Williams R. Randomized, controlled, parallel-group prospective study to investigate the clinical effectiveness of early insulin treatment in patients with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. BMC Endocr Disord. 2008 Jul 24;8:8.

Khanolkar MP, Bain SC, Stephens JW. The diabetic foot. QJM. 2008;101(9):685-95.

Stephens JW, Bain SC. Safety and adverse effects associated with GLP-1 analogues. Expert Opin Drug Saf.  2007;6(4):417-22.

Professor Steve Bain (2007-2010)
Gill GV, Daousi C, Barnett AH, Bain SC.  Chronic kidney disease in long duration type 1 diabetes lasting more than 50 years.  Curr Med Res Opin.  2009; 25(2):395-400

Daousi C, Bain SC, Barnett AH, Gill GV.  Hypertriglyceridamia is associated with an increased likelihood of albuminuria in extreme duration (>50 years) Type 1 diabetes. Diabet Med. 2008; 25(10):1234-6

Savage DA, Patterson CC, Deloukas P, Whittaker P, McKnight AJ, Morrison J, Boulton AJ, Demaine AG, Marshall SM, Millward BA, Thomas SM, Viberti GC, Walker JD, Sadlier D, Maxwell AP, Bain SC.  Genetic association analyses of non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms in diabetic nephtopathy.  Diabetologia 2008; 51(11):1998-2002

Savage DA, Bain SC, McKnight AJ, Maxwell AP.  Gene discovery in diabetic nephropathy.  Curr Diab Rep 2007; 7(2):139-45

Beyreuther BK, Callizot N, Brot MD, Feldman R, Bain SC, Stohr T.  Antinociceptive efficiacy of lacosamide in rat models for tumor- and chemotherapy-induced cancer pain.  Eur J Pharmacol 2007; 565(1-3):98-104

Dr Jeffrey Stephens (2007-2010)
Salpea KD, Talmud PJ, Cooper JA, Maubaret CG, Stephens JW, Abelak K, Humphries SE.  Association of telomere length with type 2 diabetes, oxidative stress and UCP2 gene variation.  Atherosclerosis 2009 Oct 6 [Epub ahead of print]

Huth C, Illig T, Herder C, Gieger C, Grallert H, Vollmert C, Rathmann W, Hamid YH, Pedersen O, Hansen T, Thorand B, Meisinger C, Doring A, Klopp N, Gohlke H, Lieb W, Hengstenberg C, Lyssenko V, Groop L, Ireland H, Stephens JW, et al.  Joint analysis of individual participants' data from 17 studies on the association of the IL6 variant -174G>C with circulating glucose levels, interleukin-6 levels, and body mass index  Ann Med  2009; 41(2):128-38

Salpea KD, Gable DR, Cooper JA, Stephens JW, Hurel SJ, Ireland HA, Feher MD, Godsland IF, Humphries SE.  THe effect of WNT5B IVS3C>G on the susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in UK Caucasian subjects.  Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2009; 19(2):140-5

Alam I, Lewis MJ, Lewis KE, Stephens JW, Baxter JN, Influence of bariatric surgery on indices of cardiac autonomic control.  Auton Neurosci 2009 Dec 3; 151(2):168-73

de Lacy P, Benjamin S, Dixon R, Stephens JW, Redfern R, Price DE.  Is surgical intervention frequently required for medically managed macroprolactinomas?  A study of spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.  Surg Neurol 2009 Nov: 72(5):461-3

Natajaran B, Stephens JW.  Haemorrhagic cardiac tamponade: a rare complication of pneumonia.  QMJ 2009 Nov; 102(11): 813-4

Stephens JW, Fielding A, Verdaguer R, Freites O.  A steroid-cell tumor of the ovary resulting in massive androgen excess early in the gonadol steroidgenic pathway.  Gynecol Endocrinol 2008; 24(9):502-4

Hancock S, Still RA, Fielding AM, Doran JF, Stephens JW.  A rare cause of Cushing's syndrome demonstrates analytical disscrepancies between the Roche E170 and Bayer Centaur testosterone assays.  Ann Clin Biochem  2008; 45(Pt 3): 328-30

Stephens JW, Dhamrait SS, Mani AR, Acharya J, Moore K, Hurel SJ, Humphries SE.  Interaction between the uncoupling protein 2 -866G>A gene variant and cigarette smoking to increase oxidative stress in subjects with diabetes.  Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis  2008; 18(1):7-14

Dorfmeister B, Cooper JA, Stephens JW, Ireland H, Hurel SJ, Huphries SE and Talmud PJ.  The effect of APOA5 and APOC3 variants on lipid parameters in European Whites, Indian Asians and Afro-Caribbeans with tyoe 2 diabetes.  Biochim Biophys Acta 2007; 1772(3):355-63

Gable DR, Stephens JW, Dhamrait SS, Hawe E, Humphries SE, Hifmech Study Group.  European differences in the association between the UCP2 -866G>A common gene variant and markers of body mass and fasting plasma insulin.  Diabetes Obes Metab 2007; 9(1):130-1

Shamaei-Tousi A, Steptoe A, O'Donnell K, Palmen J, Stephens JW, Hurel SJ, Marmot M, Homer K, D'Aiuto F, Coates AR, Humphries SE, Henderson B.  Plasma heat shock protein 60 and cardiovascular disease risk: the role of psychosocial , genetic, and biological factors.  Cell Stress Chaperones  2007; 12(4):384-92

Stephens JW, Hurel SJ, Lowe GD, Rumley A, Humphries SE.  Association between plasma IL-6, the IL6 -174G>C gene variant and the metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Mol Genet Metab  2007; 90(4):422-8

Thompson SR, Sanders J, Stephens JW, Miller GJ, Humphries SE.  A common interleukin 18 haplotype is associated with higher body mass index in subjects with diabetes and coronary heart disease.  Metabolism  2007; 56(5):662-9

Wooton PT, Arora NL, Drenos F, Thompson SR, Cooper JA, Stephens JW, Hurel SJ, Hurt Camejo E, Wiklund O, Humphries SE, Talmud PJ.  Tagging SNP haplotype analysis of the secretaryPLA2-V gene, PLA2G5, shows strong association with LDL and oxLDL levels, suggesting functional distinction from sPLA2-IIA: results from teh UDACS study.  Hum Mol Genet.  2007; 16(12):1437-44

Rao A, Iqbal M, Price DE, Stephens JW, Necrotizing fasciitis and hypothyroidism.  QJM 2007 Aug; 100(8):533-4

Alam I, Lewis K, Stephens JW, Baxter JN.  Obesity, metabolic syndrome and sleep apnoea: all pro-inflammatory states.  Obes Rev 2007; 8(2):119-27

Muthumala A, Gable DR, Palmen J, Cooper JA, Stephens JW, Miller GJ, Humphries SE.  Is the influence of variation in the ACE gene on the prospective risk of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged men modified by obesity?  Clin Sci (Lond).  2007; 113(12):467-72

Further publications by Professor Stephen Bain

Further publications by Dr Jeffrey Stephens

 

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