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The Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories (IMS-MRL) and its embedded Medical Research Council (MRC) Metabolic Diseases Unit investigate the mechanisms through which metabolic health is maintained and how this is disturbed in disease. We seek to use that knowledge to aid better treatment and prevention of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and related endocrine and metabolic diseases.
IMS-MRL research groups encompass skills in genetics, cell biology, cell signalling, neuroendocrinology, bioenergetics, human and animal physiology, experimental medicine and clinical trials.
Latest news
13 August 2025
The next-generation of obesity medicines harness the activity of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptors (GIPR, GLP-1R), but exactly how they work remains unclear. A recent study published in Cell Metabolism and led by Dr Robert Hansford (PhD student with the Blouet group) and...
The gut's hidden messengers: unlocking the signalling pathways of human serotonin release
12 August 2025
Research recently published (article in press) in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CMGH) and led by Dr Constanza Alcaino from the Gribble/Reimann group, and colleagues at the IMS-MRL and elsewhere, has for the first time, provided a complete expression and functional profile of human enterochromaffin...
Are gut hormones an underlooked cause of our IBS?
29 July 2025
Research published in Gut and led by Dr Chris Bannon from the Gribble/Reimann group at the IMS-MRL, has highlighted an important role that gut hormones play in patients with chronic diarrhoea. The gut is known to release over 20 different hormones with actions including controlling appetite, blood sugar and speed of gut...
