Professor Chris McCabe BSc PhD

Professor Chris McCabe

Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
Professor of Molecular Endocrinology
Director of Research in the Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
Lead for Sustainability for the Department of Metabolism and Systems Science and College of Medicine and Health

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8713
Email
c.j.mccabe.med@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Chris McCabe is Professor of Molecular Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham. He works on mechanisms of endocrine cancers, including thyroid and breast tumour models. Specifically, the research of the McCabe group focuses on the action of the sodium iodide symporter NIS in thyroid tumours; assessment of the role of the proto-oncogenes PTTG and PBF in thyroid and breast; in vitro and in vivo models exploring protein localisation and function; mechanisms of aneuploidy and genetic instability.

Qualifications

  • PhD (Drosophila behavioural genetics) University of Birmingham 1995
  • BSc (First Class Special Honours in Genetics) University of Sheffield 1990

Biography

Chris McCabe qualified with a BSc in Genetics from the University of Sheffield in 1990, and pursued a PhD in the behavioural genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster at the University of Birmingham, which was awarded in 1995.

Subsequently, Chris became interested in applying emerging molecular genetic techniques to the study of human disease, and was appointed as an MRC Post Doctoral Fellow in the Division of Medical Sciences at the University of Birmingham, under the mentorship of Professor Jayne Franklyn.

Following an overseas stint at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Chris achieved the Marjorie Robinson Fellowship in Endocrinology and a Lectureship at the University of Birmingham. He subsequently progressed to Senior Lecturer, Reader, and a Chair in 2010. He was awarded the Pitt-Rivers Award in 2023.

Chris has lectured widely across the world both within science, and as a fiction writer with a specific interest in the communication of science.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

  • 30+ previous PhD and MD students
  • 3 current PhD students funded by the DoD, BHP etc
  • Future students welcomed in thyroid and breast cancer research

Research

  • The action of the sodium iodide symporter NIS in radioiodine treatment of thyroid and other tumours.
  • Therapeutic modulation of radioiodine uptake in vitro and in vivo
  • Assessment of the role of the proto-oncogenes PTTG and PBF in thyroid and breast tumours
  • Diverse mechanisms of endocrine cancer
  • Murine models of tumourigenesis
  • Novel drug screening strategies

Other activities

  • Chief Operating Officer and Secretary, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • Board of Directors, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • Executive Committee, American Thyroid Association (2023-2027)
  • Co-Chair, Programme Committee, American Thyroid Association (2021-2022)
  • Science Committee, European Society for Endocrinology (2021-2025)
  • NCRI Thyroid Cancer Subgroup (2019-2023)
  • Chair, Wellcome Trust Basic Science Interview Committee (2016-2019)
  • Chair, Science Committee of the Society for Endocrinology (2016-2020)
  • Director, Environment and Sustainability Committee, College of Medicine and Health (2013-present)
  • Script Editor (ITV, C4, BBC, CBBC, Discovery Channel etc)
  • Writer 

Publications

Martin L. Read, Katie Brookes, Ling Zha, Selvambigai Manivannan, Jana Kim, Merve Kocbiyik, Alice Fletcher, Caroline M. Gorvin, George Firth, Gilbert O. Fruhwirth, Juan P. Nicola, Sissy Jhiang, Matthew D. Ringel, Moray J. Campbell, Kavitha Sunassee, Philip J. Blower, Kristien Boelaert, Hannah R. Nieto, Vicki E. Smith and Christopher J. McCabe. 2023. Combined Vorinostat and Chloroquine Inhibit Sodium Iodide Symporter Endocytosis and Enhance Radionuclide Uptake In Vivo. CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH [In Press]

Read ML, Brookes K, Thornton C, Fletcher AL, Alshahrani M, Khan R, Nieto H, de Souza PB, Webster JRM, Alderwick LJ, Boelaert K, Smith VE, McCabe CJ. 2022. ‘New mechanisms of radioiodide uptake revealed via a novel high throughput drug screening approach in thyroid cancer.’ Cell Chem Biol. 29(3):502-516

Nieto HR, Thornton CEM, Brookes K, de Menezes AN, Fletcher A, Alshahrani M, Kocbiyik M, Sharma N, Boelaert K, Cazier JB, Mehanna H, Smith VE, Read ML, McCabe CJ. 2021. Recurrence of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Systematic Appraisal of Risk Factors. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 107(5):1392-1406

Fletcher, A, Read, M, Thornton, C, Larner, D, Poole, V, Brookes, K, Nieto, H, Alshahrani, M, Thompson, R, Lavery, G, Landa, I, Fagin, JA, Campbell, MJ, Boelaert, K, Turnell, A, Smith, V & McCabe, C 2020, 'Targeting novel sodium iodide symporter interactors ADP-ribosylation factor 4 and valosin-containing protein enhances radioiodine uptake', Cancer Research, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 102–115. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-1957

Thompson, RJ, Fletcher, A, Brookes, K, Nieto, H, Alshahrani, MM, Mueller, JW, Fine, NHF, Hodson, DJ, Boelaert, K, Read, ML, Smith, VE & McCabe, CJ 2019, 'Dimerization of the sodium/iodide symporter', Thyroid, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 1485-1498. https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2019.0034

Smith, R, Middleton, L, Sunner, K, Cheed, V, Baker, K, Farrell-Carver, S, Bender Atik, R, Agrawal, R, Bhatia, K, Edi-Osagie, E, Ghobara, T, Gupta, P, Jurkovic, D, Khalaf, Y, MacLean, M, McCabe, C, Mulbagal, K, Nunes, N, Overton, C, Quenby, S, Rai, R, Raine-Fenning, N, Robinson, L, Ross, J, Sizer, A, Small, R, Tan, A, Underwood, M, Kilby, M, Boelaert, K, Daniels, J, Thangaratinam, S, Chan, SY & Coomarasamy, A 2019, 'Levothyroxine in women with thyroid peroxidase antibodies before conception', The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 380, no. 14, pp. 1316-1325. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1812537

Torlinska, B, Nichols, L, Mohammed, MA, McCabe, C & Boelaert, K 2019, 'Patients treated for hyperthyroidism are at increased risk of becoming obese: findings from a large prospective secondary care cohort', Thyroid, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 1380-1389. https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2018.0731

Read, M, Modasia, B, Fletcher, A, Thompson, R, Brookes, K, Rae, P, Nieto, H, Poole, V, Roberts, S, Campbell, M, Boelaert, K, Turnell, A, Smith, V, Mehanna, H & McCabe, C 2018, 'PTTG and PBF functionally interact with p53 and predict overall survival in head and neck cancer', Cancer Research, vol. 78, no. 20, pp. 5863-5876. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0855

Read ML, Fong JCW, Imruetaicharoenchoke W, Modasia B, Nieto H, Bacon A, Mallick U, Hackshaw A, Watkinson JC, Boelaert K, Smith VE, Turnell AS and McCabe CJ. 2017. High tumoural expression of PBF and PTTG modulates the DNA damage response and is associated with poor survival in thyroid cancer. Oncogene 36(37):5296-5308 doi:10.1038/onc.2017.154.

Imruetaicharoenchoke W, Watkins RJ, Modasia B, Poole VL, Nieto HR, Sharma N, Fletcher A, Thompson R, Boelaert K, Read ML, Smith VE, McCabe CJ. 2017. Functional consequences of the first reported mutations of the proto-oncogene PTTG1IP/PBF Endocrine Related Cancer 24(9):459-474 doi: 10.1530/ERC-16-0340

Watkins RJ, Imruetaicharoenchoke W, Read ML, Sharma N, Poole VL, Gentillin E, Bansal S, Bosseboeuf E, Fletcher R, Nieto HR, Mallick U, Hackshaw A, Mehanna H, Boelaert K, Smith VE, McCabe CJ. 2016. Pro-invasive effect of proto-oncogene PBF is modulated by an interaction with cortactin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab (12):4551-4563 doi: 10.1210/jc.2016-1932

Smith JA, Read ML, Hoffman J, Brown R, Bradshaw B, Campbell C, Cole T, Dieguez-Navas J, Eatock F, GundaraJS, Lian E, McMullan DJ, Morgan NV, Mulligan L, Morrison PJ, Robledo M, Simpson MA, Smith VE, Stewart S, Trembath RC, Sidhu S, Togneri FS, Wake NC, Wallis Y, Watkinson JC, Maher ER, McCabe CJ, Woodward ER. 2016. Germline ESR2 Mutation Predisposes to Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma and Causes Up-Regulation of RET Expression. Human Molecular Genetics 25(9):1836-45 doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw057

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