Sir Philip John Randle (16 July 1926 – 26 September 2006) was a British medical researcher after whom the

Randle cycle The Randle cycle, also known as the glucose fatty-acid cycle, is a metabolic process involving the competition of glucose and fatty acids for substrates. It is theorized to play a role in explaining type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. It was n ...

is named.

Early life and education

Born 16 July 1926 in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, Randle was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton;

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, where he read the Nature Sciences Tripos, graduating with first-class honours and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

;

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...

and the

UCL Medical School UCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. The School provides a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes and also has a medical educatio ...

, where he read medicine and graduated with an M.D. After qualifying as a medical doctor, Randle returned to the University of Cambridge to undertake a Ph.D. under Professor

Frank George Young Sir Frank George Young FRS (25 March 1908 – 20 September 1988) was a distinguished biochemist, noted for his work on diabetes, and the first Master of Darwin College, Cambridge. Early life Young was born in London and educated at Alleyn's School ...

.H. Brown. (2006.
Sir Philip Randle
The Lancet, 368(9548):1644. For his doctoral thesis entitled "Studies on the Metabolic Action of Insulin", he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1955 and was immediately appointed Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University.

Career

In 1964 he was appointed founding Professor of Biochemistry at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

where he built a strong department which carried out original research into mitochondrial transporters, molecular enzymology, protein structure, and mammalian metabolism. In 1975 he moved to be founding professor and chairman of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Oxford, holding the post until 1993. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1983 and was President of the

Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. Structure It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with th ...

from 1995 to 2000. He was knighted in 1975.

Research

Randle was a prominent diabetes mellitus researcher who described the eponymous Randle Cycle of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. This resulted from work to test the theory that cardiac and skeletal muscle can alternate between carbohydrate and fat as their energy source. The Randle Cycle describes how the products of fatty acid oxidation in muscle reduces the use of glucose, allowing individuals to switch between fuels according to their carbohydrate intake and suggests a potential mechanism for the development of hyperglaecemia and type 2 diabetes. He went on to monitor individuals on a low carbohydrate diet and those with non-insulin dependent diabetes. The results were in agreement with the mechanism he described, suggesting that the key factor in the development of diabetes could be the excessive release of fatty acids in muscle tissue. The mechanism is still the subject of debate and further research.

Personal life

Randle was married to Elizabeth Harrison (d. 2004) and had son Peter and three daughters, Susan, Sally, and Rosalind.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randle, Philip 1926 births 2006 deaths People from Nuneaton Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Alumni of the UCL Medical School Academics of the University of Oxford English biochemists 20th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Society Minkowski Prize recipients