Dr Alastair O'Brien

Dr O’Brien is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the UCL Division of Medicine and a Consultant Hepatologist at University College and The Royal Free Hospitals.

My research group examines the host response to infection in people with liver cirrhosis. Liver disease is one of the commonest causes of death in the UK and affects all socio-economic groups. In 50% of cirrhotic inpatients, infection is the precipitant for hospital admission and a further 15-35% develops nosocomial infections, compared to only 5-7% of general patients.

Dr O’Brien has have demonstrated that prostaglandin E2 is the key mediator of leukocyte in cirrhotic patients. This finding has led to a 40 site UK-wide clinical trial of albumin to reduce PGE2 and reduce incidence and complications of infection. My laboratory group aim to develop novel diagnostic and treatment paradigms for cirrhosis patients using human in vivo models of inflammation.

Grants within the last 3 years:

1. ATTIRE: Albumin to Prevent Infection in Chronic Liver Failure, Principal Investigator, Wellcome Trust & Department of Health, £1.325 million, 2014-2018.

2. Suppression of cirrhosis-mediate immune suppression by prostaglandin receptor antagonism, Co-PI, Medical Research Council Project Grant, PI Professor D Gilroy, UCL £480000, 2014-2017.

3. UCL Confidence-in-Concept award (from the Medical Research Council), Principal Investigator £100000, 2014-15.

4. Hepatic latency in human ovale malaria, co-PI Medical Research Council, PI Colin Sutherland, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2013-2016.

5. Can albumin reverse immune suppression in Acute on Chronic Liver Failure, Principal Investigator, University College London Hospitals' Biomedical Research Council, £40000, 2013-14.

5. London Interdisciplinary doctoral programme award to fund 4 year PhD student from BBSRC - Joint PI with Professor A Hayward, Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research, UCL.

Selected Publications

Bile duct Ligated mice exhibit multiple phenotypic similarities to acute decompensation patients despite histological differences. O’Brien A, China LC, Massey KA, Nicolaou A, Winstanley A, Newson J, Hobbs A, Audzevich T, Gilroy DW. Liver International 2015. Accepted for publication.

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) after major abdominal surgery is predicted by early upregulation and activation of TLR5. Lahiri R, Derwa Y, Bashir Z, Giles E, Torra