Dr Vincent Yip

Dr Vincent Yip is a Clinical Pharmacology trainee with an interest pharmacogenetics and adverse drug reactions. He graduated in Medicine, with honours, from the University of Liverpool in 2008 with an additional intercalated BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology.

Picture of Vincent YipDr Yip completed his foundation training in the Mersey Deanery at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Following this he was appointed to a NIHR academic clinical fellow training post in Clinical Pharmacology and Neurology. During his two years as an academic clinical fellow he completed his core medical training and a systematic review and meta-analysis into the pharmacogenetics of carbamazepine hypersensitivity. This work lead to the development of Fellowship research project, which investigated the relationships between drug metabolism, immune response and genetic variation in patients with carbamazepine hypersensitivity. The aim of the research was to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers that enable diagnosis, identification and prevention of these adverse drug reactions in the future.

PhD: The pathogenesis of carbamazepine hypersensitivity – linking metabolism to the immune response using highly sensitive analytical and genomic technologies

Carbamazepine is an effective drug used for the treatment of many conditions including epilepsy, neuralgia and psychiatric disorders. Although generally well tolerated, it can cause skin rashes in up to 10% of patients. These reactions result in hospital admission, long-term complications such as blindness and can cause death in up to 30% of patients. These rashes are caused by the immune system and recent research has identified that patients with certain genes are at significantly increased risk of developing rash with carbamazepine. The way the immune system leads to the development of skin rashes with carbamazepine, or affects other organs such as the liver, is however poorly understood. The aim of Vincent's study was to investigate this by characterising the metabolism or breakdown of carbamazepine in the blood and urine of volunteers and patients following carbamazepine ingestion. A mathematical model, incorporating genetic factors, was generated from this, which will be used to explain in quantitative terms the variation between different patients. The ability of CBZ and its breakdown products to stimulate the immune system will then be determined in the laboratory. Understanding these mechanisms will enable safer therapy with carbamazepine as well providing lessons for other drugs causing similar reactions.

Upon completion of his Fellowship Vincent Yip completed a one year secondment at GlaxoSmithKline R&D based in Stevenage. He was part of the academic discovery performance unit which works together with academic partners to translate scientific discoveries in academia into medicines for patients. He used his expertise in clinical pharmacology to design and develop experimental medicine studies across a wide range of rare diseases in conjunction with scientific and clinical colleagues from both academia and industry. In the future he is aiming to continue his research into drug safety and hypersensitivity reactions using the skills and professional networks developed during his time as an MRC clinical fellow.

Back to: North West England MRC Fellowship Scheme in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics