Roland Stimson

Professor of Endocrinology

  • Centre for Cardiovascular Science

Contact details

Address

Street

The Queen's Medical Research Centre
Edinburgh BioQuarter
47 Little France Crescent

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH16 4TJ

Background

I was born in Glasgow and completed medical undergraduate training in Edinburgh in 2001. After undertaking a PhD investigating glucocorticoid metabolism in obesity at the University of Edinburgh, I completed my clinical training in 2013. I obtained an MRC Clinician Scientist fellowship in 2013 and a Scottish Senior Clinical Academic fellowship in 2018 investigating the regulation of brown adipose tissue activation and its role in cardiometabolic health.

Qualifications

MBChB, PhD, FRCP(Ed)

Research summary

I am a Scottish Senior Clinical Academic Fellow with research interests in obesity and associated metabolic disease. My senior fellowship is focused on determining how we can safely increase energy expenditure as a novel treatment for metabolic disease. We have recently discovered novel mechanisms regulating human brown adipose tissue activation and shown that this regulation differs between species. To understand how energy expenditure by human brown adipose tissue and other tissues is controlled, we use a variety of techniques ranging from in vivo experimental medicine in humans to in vitro cell culture models. We have developed novel in vivo tools to dissect human brown adipose tissue physiology and energy metabolism.

My other research interests include understanding the causes of obesity and type 2 diabetes, the role of adipose tissue function in metabolic health, and understanding tissue-specific glucocorticoid action in the pathophysiology of metabolic disease.

Project activity

Our current research is focusing on substrate utilisation by human brown adipose tissue (Weir et al, Cell Metab 2018), identifying novel regulators of human brown adipose tissue function (Suchacki et al, Nat Metab 2023), and understanding species-specific regulation of brown adipose tissue (Ramage et al, Cell Metab 2016) to identify novel pathways amenable to therapeutic manipulation. For this research we use a variety of human experimental medicine techniques including positron emission tomography, microdialysis and stable isotope tracer infusion, in combination with primary cell culture models.