Derek Mann

Derek Mann is Professor of Hepatology at Newcastle University. After his PhD training at University College London (1987-1991) he carried out postdoctoral training in molecular biology and virology at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (1991-1994) investigating the post-translational control of HIV-1 replication. He then joined the University of Southampton as a non-clinical lecturer where he joined the liver group which was then under the leadership of Professor Sir Michael Arthur where he began his work on the biology of liver fibrosis and hepatic stellate cells (HSC). His early work identified transcription factors NF-kB and AP-1 as key regulators of the fibrogenic features of activated HSC. He went on to describe NF-kB as an essential survival factor for HSC and identified angiotensin signalling as an autocrine feedback pathway for NF-kB which could be inhibited by angiotensin receptor blockers to induce HSC apoptosis and regression of fibrosi