Dr Nigel Bird MEd, PhD

Department of Oncology
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX
UK

Office:

Tel: +44 (0)114 271 2181
Fax: +44 (0)114 271 3314

email: n.bird@sheffield.ac.uk

Research Interests

The principle research interest of my group is in the site-specific growth of colorectal cancer metastasis in the liver. In particular we are interested in the events that occur at the invasive margin of the metastases which allow them to grow without inducing any noticeable regeneration in the remaining normal liver tissue. I also have a long held interest in the mechanisms of gallstone formation and gallbladder disease. Our group uses mathematical simulations and computational fluid dynamics to model the flow of bile and changes in the shape and stress patterns in the gallbladder wall.

Teaching Interests

I obtained an M.Ed in teaching and learning for lecturers in higher education in 2000. Since then I have taught on the undergraduate MB, ChB course, the undergraduate Biochemistry course and the MSc in Human Nutrition.

Current Projects

• EPSRC. Mechanisms of Human Gallbladder Pain (with Dept of Mathematics, University of Glasgow)
• Genotypic and Phenotypic changes at the tumour:host interface in colorectal liver metastasis and their influence on clinical outcomes.
• Genome wide association study of risk factors for progression in Barrett´s oesophagus.

Key Publications

1. Illemann M, Bird N, Majeed A et al. The distinct expression patterns of urokinase, urokinase receptor and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in colon cancer liver metastases. Int. J. Cancer 2009; 124: 1860-70.

2. WG Li, XY Luo, SB Chin, NA Hill, AG Johnson, NC Bird. Non-Newtonian bile flow inelastic cystic duct: One- and Three-dimensional modelling. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 2008; 36(11): 1893-1908 DOI: 101007/s10439-008-9563-3

3. Erica di Martino, Laura J. Hardie, Christopher P. Wild, Yun Y. Gong, Joanna R. Olliver, Martin D. Gough, Nigel C. Bird. The NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase I C609T polymorphism modifies the risk of Barrett´s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Genetics in Medicine. 2007; 9(6): 1-6.
4. Gough MD, Ackroyd R, Majeed AW, Bird NC. Prediction of malignant potential in reflux disease: are cytokine polymorphisms important? American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2005; 100; 1012-1018.