AoPcasts: "The Consult" Bringing you the latest in medical research

Association of Physicians

Welcome to "The Consult," an academic podcast series hosted by Professor Paul Klenerman, Truelove Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. As part of the Associations of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland (AoPGBI) podcast series, we engage with leading researchers who are continually advancing their fields through innovative basic science and clinical studies. Each episode offers an exploration of their current research, providing a unique and personal window onto the latest developments and their future trajectory.

Episodes

  1. THE CONSULT: Professor Paul Klenerman talks with Professor Christopher Buckley about his recent papers.

    12/09/2025

    THE CONSULT: Professor Paul Klenerman talks with Professor Christopher Buckley about his recent papers.

    These recent papers describe work in the field of stromal cell biology. Fibroblasts were long regarded as simple structural cells and often ignored by immunologists. In these studies of human disease Chris Buckley discusses how recent approaches based on transcriptomics have shone new light on these cells and their role in disease. Given their long lived nature and capacity to remain resident in tissues, they may play particular roles in chronic inflammation. New data allows subsets of such cells to be delineated and potentially in future targeted to provide new therapies in inflammatory disease. Importantly, Prof. Buckley talks here (and in a recent webinar hosted by the Association of Physicians) about how innovative approaches to inflammatory disease can allow targeting of multiple different diseases, based on a deep understanding of the underlying pathology. Characterization of a pathogenic nonmigratory fibroblast population in systemic sclerosis skin. Clark KE, Xu S, Attar M, Ong VH, Buckley CD, Denton CP.JCI Insight. 2025 Apr 15;10(10):e185618. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.185618. eCollection 2025 May 22.PMID: 40232859 Free PMC article. Molecular and spatial analysis of tertiary lymphoid structures in Sjogren's syndrome. Nayar S, Turner JD, Asam S, Fennell E, Pugh M, Colafrancesco S, Berardicurti O, Smith CG, Flint J, Teodosio A, Iannizzotto V, Gardner DH, van Roon J, Korsunsky I, Howdle D; Roche Fibroblast Network Consortium; Frei AP, Lassen KG, Bowman SJ, Ng WF, Croft AP, Filer A, Fisher BA, Buckley CD, Barone F.Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):5. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54686-0.PMID: 39747819 Free PMC article. Wnt signaling drives stromal inflammation in inflammatory arthritis. Mueller AA, Zou AE, Marsh LJ, Kemble S, Nayar S, Watts GFM, Murphy CL, Taylor E, Major T, Gardner D, Buckley CD, Wei K, Raychaudhuri S, Korsunsky I, Filer A, Croft AP, Brenner MB.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Jan 8:2025.01.06.631510. doi: 10.1101/2025.01.06.631510.PMID: 39829745 Free PMC article. Preprint.

    25 min
  2. PODCAST: AI in Medicine: Promise and Paradox

    12/05/2025

    PODCAST: AI in Medicine: Promise and Paradox

    Artificial Intelligence is transforming medicine, from diagnostics and drug discovery to personalised treatment and predictive analytics. But alongside its promise come some important challenges: Algorithmic bias, data privacy, accountability and the tension between human judgment and machine intelligence. This webinar brings together medical scientists and academic physicians to explore the realities behind the (potential) hyperbole. An expert faculty will examine how AI can responsibly be integrated into clinical and research practice, what ethical safeguards are essential and how medical professionals can shape the AI-driven future of healthcare. Dr. Steven Niederer, Imperial College London and Alan Turing Institute Dr. Steven Niederer is a biomedical engineer specializing in computational heart modeling. After earning his Engineering Science degree in 2003 and a DPhil in Computer Science in 2008, he led the Cardiac Electro-Mechanics Research Group at King’s College London from 2010 to 2023, advancing patient-specific cardiac modeling for clinical use. In 2023, he became Chair in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the Digital Twin Turing Research and Innovation Cluster. His current work focuses on enabling digital twin technologies, creating virtual patient cohorts for in-silico trials, linking organ-level and molecular physiology, and using computational models to personalize therapies. Professor Fu Siong Ng, Imperial College London Prof Fu Siong Ng is a Professor of Cardiology at Imperial College London and a Consultant Cardiologist across two major NHS trusts. A Clinician Scientist, he leads a British Heart Foundation–funded research programme on the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias, while also performing ablation procedures and implanting pacemakers and defibrillators. He directs the intercalated BSc in Cardiovascular Sciences at Imperial and serves as Divisional Research Lead for Emergency & Integrated Care at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He is also Theme Lead for Remote Monitoring in Imperial’s 2024–2029 BHF Centre of Research Excellence renewal bid. Professor Alastair Denniston, University of Birmingham Professor Alastair Denniston is Chair of the National Commission for the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, guiding the MHRA in creating a new AI regulatory framework due in 2026. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator, Professor of Regulatory Science and Innovation at the University of Birmingham, and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at University Hospitals Birmingham. He directs the UK Centre of Excellence for Regulatory Science and Innovation in AI & Digital Health (CERSI-AI), serves on the UK Government’s Regulatory Horizons Council, and is a Non-Executive Director of the Health Research Authority. His work focuses on advancing safe, effective, and equitable AI-driven health technologies that deliver real-world impact. CONVENOR Professor Stuart D Rosen Consultant Cardiologist, London Northwest and Royal Brompton Hospitals Professor of Practice (Cardiology), Imperial College, London

    1 hr
  3. THE CONSULT: A precision medicine approach to colorectal cancer prevention using the omega (n)-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) EPA

    11/28/2025

    THE CONSULT: A precision medicine approach to colorectal cancer prevention using the omega (n)-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) EPA

    Mark Hull talks about the translational research development of the n-3 PUFA EPA as a cancer prevention agent through to phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, touching on design and delivery of trials of ‘nutraceuticals’ like high-dose n-3 PUFAs, and how such an intervention might impact on cancer. Despite proof of concept from a small, randomised trial of EPA in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, the same dose and formulation of EPA did not reduce overall colorectal polyp risk in the seAFOod polyp prevention trial. Emphasising the importance of the trial tissue biobank, he discusses a secondary genetic analysis of the seAFOod trial, which has uncovered a putative biomarker of EPA response that is more prevalent in people of African and Asian ancestry than those of White European heritage. This highlights the importance of patient diversity in clinical trials. He finishes by discussing latest epidemiological data on dietary n-3 PUFA intake (mainly from fish) and colorectal cancer risk. Professor Paul Klenerman Sidney Truelove Professorship of Gastroenterology, Nuffield Department of Medicine; Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford Professor Mark Hull  PhD FRCP, Leeds Institute of Medical Research, University of Leeds The opinions of our host and guests are their own; AoP does not endorse any individual viewpoints, given products or companies.

    47 min
  4. THE CONSULT: Rilzabrutinib, Rozanolixizumab, and Beyond: ITP Therapeutics Explored. Professor Paul Klenerman talks to Professor Nichola Cooper about one of her recent papers.

    11/28/2025

    THE CONSULT: Rilzabrutinib, Rozanolixizumab, and Beyond: ITP Therapeutics Explored. Professor Paul Klenerman talks to Professor Nichola Cooper about one of her recent papers.

    Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a rare autoimmune disease, but also one where a great deal of progress has been made in development of new therapies. Prof Cooper performs clinical trials to understand the impact of new therapies, based upon and also gaining insights into the underlying pathogenesis. The clear readout of platelet count allows for a trial design which can funnel diverse new types of therapy into the translational pathway, and this sort of study has implications more broadly for how we address auto-immunity more generally. This work is a great example of how fundamental understanding of pathology can be turned into new therapies for patients by clinician scientists working at the interface. The papers discussed look at the role of immune modulation in auto-immune thrombocytopenia, and trial approaches using inhibition of neonatal Fc receptors, as well as inhibition of the BTK molecule. More broadly we discuss the pathogenesis of this disease, how trials are performed and the landscape for future studies. Safety and efficacy of rilzabrutinib vs placebo in adults with immune thrombocytopenia: the phase 3 LUNA3 study. Kuter DJ, Ghanima W, Cooper N, Liebman HA, Zhang L, Hu Y, Miyakawa Y, Homenda W, Galindo LEM, Basquiera AL, Tan CW, Saydam G, Hütter-Krönke ML, Chai-Adisaksopha C, Gómez-Almaguer D, Tran H, Shin HJ, Dantas da Cunha Junior A, Lazar Z, Izquierdo CP, Kirgner I, Lucchini E, Kuzmina G, Fillitz M, Audia S, Taparia M, Cordoba M, Diab R, Yao M, Gouia I, Lee M, Daak A. Blood. 2025 Jun 12;145(24):2914-2926. doi: 10.1182/blood.2024027336. PMID: 40090011 Inhibition of FcRn with rozanolixizumab in adults with immune thrombocytopenia: Two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 studies and their open-label extension. Cooper N, Bussel JB, Kaźmierczak M, Miyakawa Y, Cluck S, Lledó García R, Haier B, Lavrov A, Singh P, Snipes R, Kuter DJ. Br J Haematol. 2025 Feb;206(2):675-688. doi: 10.1111/bjh.19858. Epub 2024 Nov 18. PMID: 39552477  The role of genetic sequencing in the diagnostic workup for chronic immune thrombocytopenia. Joshi N, Lango-Allen H, Downes K, Simeoni I, Vladescu C, Paul D, Hart A, Ademokun C, Cooper N. Blood Adv. 2025 Apr 8;9(7):1497-1507. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2024014639. PMID: 39808791  Related studies https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcp1810479

    24 min

About

Welcome to "The Consult," an academic podcast series hosted by Professor Paul Klenerman, Truelove Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. As part of the Associations of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland (AoPGBI) podcast series, we engage with leading researchers who are continually advancing their fields through innovative basic science and clinical studies. Each episode offers an exploration of their current research, providing a unique and personal window onto the latest developments and their future trajectory.