Matthew Lloyd

My research aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which readers of histone modifications confer circadian rhythmicity onto downstream metabolic pathways to control glucose and lipid homeostasis. Understanding these processes promises to unlock novel anti-obesity therapies.

For my fellowship project, I am working with a small molecule that enhances the amplitude of cell-autonomous circadian rhythms and inhibits a class of epigenetic reader proteins. This molecule prevented weight gain without altering food intake in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity.

I completed my DPhil in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics in 2023 under the supervision of Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft and Dr Carina Ämmälä (Novo Nordisk). I investigated how chronic hyperglycaemia affects pancreatic beta-cell metabolism, with a focus on the mechanisms driving impairment of insulin biosynthesis. Previously, I received my Master of Biochemistry degree in 2018, also from the University of Oxford. My research project was in the Vasudevan group, examining circadian rhythms of glucose metabolism in hepatocytes.