Professor Christopher Nolan

BMedSci, MBBS, PhD, FRACP
Associate Director Research, ANU School of Medicine and Psychology
ANU College of Health and Medicine
Endocrinology Specialist, Canberra Health Services

Prof Christopher (Chris) Nolan is a clinician/scientist/teacher/policy advisor in diabetes. He completed his training in Medicine at the University of Melbourne (BMedSc and MBBS-1983) and Endocrinology at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (FRACP-1991). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Melbourne on glucose metabolism and insulin action in pregnancy under the supervision of Prof Joe Proietto (1998). He received further training in islet beta-cell research at the University of Montreal under supervision of Prof Marc Prentki (2002-4). He moved to Canberra to join the Endocrinology Department at The Canberra Hospital and the ANU Medical School in 2005. He is currently Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Endocrinology for the ANU Medical School, Chair of the ANU College of Health and Medicine Research Committee, and a Senior Staff Specialist in Endocrinology at Canberra Health Services. In 2018 he stepped down as Director of Diabetes Services (2011-2018) and Director of Endocrinology (2016-2018) at the Canberra Hospital. Under his leadership, the ACT Health Diabetes Service was recognised as a National Centre of Excellence by the National Association of Diabetes Centres. Prof Nolan is currently a Board Member of the Australian Diabetes Society and Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Diabetes Australia Research Program. He has previously been President of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and Council Member of the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups. He is an Advisory Board Member for Diabetologia (2020-) and an International Review Panel Member for the Danish Diabetes Academy Committee for Talent Development (2018-). He directs an active diabetes research laboratory at the John Curtin School of Medical Research focusing on islet beta-cell failure in type 1 and 2 diabetes and the role of insulin hypersecretion in metabolic syndrome and related conditions. He is involved in multicentre diabetes clinical studies including the NHMRC funded Treatment of Booking Gestational Diabetes (TOBOGM) study. He is a lead investigator for the ANU Grand Challenge project, Our Health in Our Hands, which includes research into improving the care of people with type 1 diabetes using a personalised medicine approach. He also leads the Mother and Child 2020 study, which is investigating the impact off the 2019/20 Australian bushfire crisis on maternal and child health.

Specialisation

  • Endocrinology

Research interests

Type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, diabetes in pregnancy, pancreatic islet biology, metabolic diseases, diabetes complications, climate change and maternal and child health

Projects

  • Brew-Sam, N, Chhabra, M, Parkinson, A et al. 2021, 'Experiences of Young People and Their Caregivers of Using Technology to Manage Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Systematic Literature Review and Narrative Synthesis', JMIR Diabetes, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-14.
  • Waters, M, Delghingaro-Augusto, V, Javed, K et al. 2021, 'Knockout of the Amino Acid Transporter SLC6A19 and Autoimmune Diabetes Incidence in Female Non-Obese Diabetic (NOD) Mice', Metabolites, vol. 11, no. 665.
  • Immanuel, J, Flack, J, Wong, V et al. 2021, 'The ADIPS Pilot National Diabetes in Pregnancy Benchmarking Programme', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 9, p. 15.
  • Freebairn, L, Atkinson, J, Qin, Y et al. 2020, ''Turning the tide' on hyperglycemia in pregnancy: insights from multiscale dynamic simulation modeling', BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-12.
  • Potter, J, Hickman, P, Oakman, C et al. 2020, 'Strict Preanalytical Oral Glucose Tolerance Test Blood Sample Handling Is Essential for Diagnosing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus', Diabetes Care, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1438-1441.
  • Dagpo T, Nolan CJ & Delghingaro-Augusto V 2020, 'Exploring Therapeutic Targets to Reverse or Prevent the Transition from Metabolically Healthy to Unhealthy Obesity', Cells, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1-23.
  • Nolan PhD, C & Prentki, M 2019, 'Insulin resistance and insulin hypersecretion in the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes: Time for a conceptual framework shift', Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 118-127.
  • Schaefer-Graf, U, Napoli, A & Nolan PhD, C 2018, 'Diabetes in pregnancy: a new decade of challenges ahead', Diabetologia, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 1012-1021pp.
  • Simmons, D, Hague, W, Teede, H et al. 2018, 'Hyperglycaemia in early pregnancy: the Treatment of Booking Gestational diabetes Mellitus (TOBOGM) study. A randomised controlled trial', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 209, no. 9, pp. 405-406pp.
  • Zulfiqar, T, Nolan PhD, C, Banwell, C et al. 2018, 'Barriers to a healthy lifestyle for three- to four-year-old children of Australian-born and overseas-born mothers with post-gestational diabetes: An Australian qualitative study', Journal of Child Health Care, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 447-459.
  • Sabeti, F, Sabeti, F, Carle, C et al 2018, 'Changes in Macular function with Multifocal Pupillography and its spatial correlation with severity of Diabetic Retinopathy', Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), ed. Donald C. Hood, ARVO, USA, pp. Meeting Abstract: 1893.
  • Lamontagne, J, Al-Mass, A, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2017, 'Identification of the signals for glucose-induced insulin secretion in INS1 (832/13) -cells using metformin-induced metabolic deceleration as a model', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 292, no. 47, pp. 19458-19468.
  • Okolie, K, Perampalam, S, Barker, A et al. 2017, 'A case of Klinefelter syndrome with hypersexual desire', Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Case Reports, vol. 2017, no. 1, pp. 1-5.
  • Brown, R, Thorsteinsson, E, Smithson, M et al. 2017, 'Can body temperature dysregulation explain the co-occurrence between overweight/obesity, sleep impairment, late-night eating, and a sedentary lifestyle?', Eating and Weight Disorders, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 599-608pp.
  • Zulfiqar, T, Lithander, F, Banwell, C et al. 2017, 'Barriers to a healthy lifestyle post gestational-diabetes: An Australian qualitative study', Women and Birth, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 319-324.
  • Dooley, J, Tian, L, Schonefeldt, S et al. 2016, 'Genetic predisposition for beta cell fragility underlies type 1 and type 2 diabetes', Nature Genetics, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 519-527.
  • Desoye, G & Nolan PhD, C 2016, 'The fetal glucose steal: an underappreciated phenomenon in diabetic pregnancy', Diabetologia, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 1089-1094.
  • Hanlen, L, Nolan PhD, C, Park, S et al. 2016, 'The Role of Digital Engagement in the Self-Management of Type 2 Diabetes', Health Communication, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 1557-1565.
  • Scott, P, Zhang, Y & Nolan PhD, C 2016, 'The gestational diabetes tsunami: can we survive it?', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 333-335pp.
  • Park, S, Burford, S, Hanlen, L et al. 2016, 'An Integrated MHealth Model for Type 2 Diabetes Patients Using Mobile Tablet Devices', Journal of mobile technology in medicine, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 24-32pp.
  • Nolan PhD, C & Delghingaro-Augusto, V 2016, 'Reversibility of Defects in Proinsulin Processing and Islet beta-Cell Failure in Obesity-Related Type 2 Diabetes', Diabetes, vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 352-354.
  • Jenkins, A, O'Neal, D, Nolan, C et al 2016, 'The Pathobiology of Diabetes', in Anandwardhan A. Hardikar (ed.), Pancreatic Islet Biology, Springer, Australia, pp. 1-48.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Ruderman, N, Kahn, S et al. 2015, 'Insulin Resistance as a Physiological Defense Against Metabolic Stress: Implications for the Management of Subsets of Type 2 Diabetes', Diabetes, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 673-686.
  • Feig, D, Corcoy, R, Jensen, D et al. 2015, 'Diabetes in pregnancy outcomes: A systematic review and proposed codification of definitions', Diabetes-Metabolism research and reviews, vol. 31, no. 7, pp. 680-690.
  • Sabeti, F, Nolan, C, James, AC et al 2015, 'Multifocal pupillography identifies changes in visual sensitivity according to severity of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes', Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 4504-4513.
  • Farrell, G, Mridha, A, Yeh, M et al. 2014, 'Strain dependence of diet-induced NASH and liver fibrosis in obese mice is linked to diabetes and inflammatory phenotype', Liver International, vol. 34, no. 7, pp. 1084-1093.
  • Delghingaro-Augusto, V, Madad, L, Chandra, A et al. 2014, 'Islet inflammation, hemosiderosis, and fibrosis in intrauterine growth-restricted and high fat-fed sprague-dawley rats', American Journal of Pathology, vol. 184, no. 5, pp. 1446-1457.
  • Nolan PhD, C 2014, 'Lipotoxicity, beta Cell Dysfunction, and Gestational Diabetes', Cell Metabolism, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 553-554.
  • Zoungas, S, Chalmers, J, Neal, B et al. 2014, 'Follow-up of blood-pressure lowering and glucose control in type 2 diabetes', New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 371, no. 15, pp. 1392-1406.
  • Dahlstrom, J, Nolan PhD, C, McCormack, R et al. 2014, 'Chronic Intervillositis: Value of ALKP Monitoring', Pathology, vol. 46, no. S2, pp. S32.
  • Pratley, R, Nauck, M, Barnett, A et al. 2014, 'Once-weekly albiglutide versus once-daily liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on oral drugs (HARMONY 7): a randomised, open-label, multicentre, non-inferiority phase 3 study', The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 289-297.
  • Nolan, C & Delghingaro-Augusto, V 2014, 'RNA sequencing of all transcripts and how islet beta-cells fail', Diabetes, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 1823-1825.
  • Simpson, A, Krowka, R, Kerrigan, J et al. 2013, 'Opportunistic pathology-based screening for Diabetes', BMJ Open, vol. 3, no. 9, pp. e003411-e003411.
  • Larter, C, Yeh, M, Haigh, W et al. 2013, 'Dietary modification dampens liver inflammation and fibrosis in obesity-related fatty liver disease', Obesity, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1189-1199.
  • Lamontagne, J, Jalbert-Arsenault, Ã, Pepin, E et al. 2013, 'Pioglitazone acutely reduces energy metabolism and insulin secretion in rats', Diabetes, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 2122-2129.
  • Huynh, T, Uaesoontrachoon, K, Quinn, J et al. 2013, 'Selective modulation through the glucocorticoid receptor ameliorates muscle pathology in mdx mice', Journal of Pathology, vol. 231, no. 2, pp. 223-235.
  • Nolan PhD, C 2013, 'Normal long-term health for infants of diabetic mothers: can we achieve it?', Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 98, no. 9, pp. 3592-3594.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Ruderman, N & Prentki, M 2013, 'Intensive insulin for type 2 diabetes: the risk of causing harm', The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 9-10.
  • Cheng, K, Delghingaro-Augusto, V, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2012, 'High passage MIN6 cells have impaired insulin secretion with impaired glucose and lipid oxidation', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 7, no. 7.
  • Delghingaro-Augusto, V, Décary, S, Peyot, M et al 2012. Voluntary running exercise prevents beta-cell failure in susceptible islets of the Zucker diabetic fatty rat, American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 302, no. 2, pp. E254-E264.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Damm, P & Prentki, M 2011, 'Type 2 diabetes across generations: from pathophysiology to prevention and management', Lancet, The (UK edition), vol. 378, no. 9786, pp. 169-181.
  • Perampalam, S, Ganda, K, Chow, K et al. 2011, 'Vitamin D status and its predictive factors in pregnancy in 2 Australian populations', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 353-359.
  • Manchanayake, J, Chitturi, S, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2011, 'Postprandial hyperinsulinemia is universal in non-diabetic patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease', Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 510-516.
  • Nolan PhD, C 2011, 'Controversies in gestational diabetes', Best Practice & Research: Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 37-49.
  • Doughty, R, Whalley, G, Gamble, G et al. 2011, 'Effects of perindopril-indapamide on left ventricular diastolic function and mass in patients with type 2 diabetes: The ADVANCE Echocardiography Substudy', Journal of Hypertension, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1439-1447.
  • Pathmaperuma, A, Mana-Nieto, P, Cheung, S et al. 2010, 'Fatty acids alter glycerolipid metabolism and induce lipid droplet formation, syncytialisation and cytokine production in human trophoblasts with minimal glucose effect or interaction', Placenta, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 230-239.
  • Nolan, C 2010, 'Failure of islet beta-cell compensation for insulin resistance causes type 2 diabetes: What causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis?', Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 1594-1597.
  • Delghingaro-Augusto, V, Nolan PhD, C, Gupta, D et al. 2009, 'Islet beta cell failure in the 60% pancreatectomised obese hyperlipidaemic Zucker fatty rat: severe dysfunction with altered glycerolipid metabolism without steatosis or a falling beta cell mass', Diabetologia, vol. 52, pp. 1122-1132.
  • Lamontagne, J, Pepin, E, Peyot, M et al. 2009, 'Pioglitazone Acutely Reduces Insulin Secretion and Causes Metabolic Deceleration of the Pancreatic beta-Cell at Submaximal Glucose Concentrations', Endocrinology, vol. 150, no. 8, pp. 3465-3474.
  • Nolan, C & Prentki, M 2008, 'The islet beta-cell: fuel responsive and vulnerable', Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 285-291.
  • Lamontagne, J, Masiello, P, Marcil, M et al. 2007, 'Circulating lipids are lowered but pancreatic islet lipid metabolism and insulin secretion are unaltered in exercise-trained female rats', Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, vol. 32, pp. 241-248.
  • Przybytkowski, E, Joly, E, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2007, 'Upregulation of cellular triacylglycerol - free fatty acid cycling by oleate is associated with long-term serum-free survival of human breast cancer cells', Biochemistry and Cell Biology, vol. 85, pp. 301-310.
  • Prentki, M & Nolan PhD, C 2006, 'Islet beta cell failure in type 2 diabetes', Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 116, no. 7, pp. 1802-1812.
  • Arsov, T, Larter, C, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2006, 'Adaptive failure to high-fat diet characterizes steatohepatitis in Alms1 mutant mice', Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, vol. 342, pp. 1152-1159.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Madiraju, M, Delghingaro-Augusto, V et al. 2006, 'Fatty Acid Signaling in the Beta-Cell and Insulin Secretion', Diabetes, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. S16-S23.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Leahy, J, Delghingaro-Augusto, V et al. 2006, 'Beta cell compensation for insulin resistance in Zucker fatty rats: increased lipolysis and fatty acid signalling', Diabetologia, vol. 49, no. 9, pp. 2120-2130.
  • Arsov, T, Larter, C, Nolan, C et al 2006, 'Adaptive failure to high-fat diet characterizes steatohepatitis in Alms1 mutant mice', Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, vol. 342, no. 4, pp. 1152-59.
  • Hu, L, Deeney, J, Nolan PhD, C et al. 2005, 'Regulation of lipolytic activity by long-chain acyl-coenzyme A in islets and adipocytes', American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 289, no. 6, pp. E1085-E1092.
  • Nolan PhD, C, Roduit, R, Alarcon, C et al. 2004, 'A role for the malonyl-CoA/long-chain acyl-CoA pathway of lipid signaling in the regulation of insulin secretion in response to both fuel and nonfuel stimuli', Diabetes, vol. 53, no. 2004, pp. 1007-1019.
  • El-Assaad, W, Buteau, J, Peyot, M et al. 2003, 'Saturated fatty acids synergize with elevated glucose to cause pancreatic beta-cell death', Endocrinology, vol. 144, no. 9, pp. 4154-4163.

Supervised students