Home / About Us / University structure / Staff Profiles / Dr John Haylor
School of Medicine
Harrington Building, HA115
Subject Areas: Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Dr Haylor was appointed as a Principal Lecturer in the School of Medicine in 2015. He is a pharmacologist with an interest in drug prescribing. His research career, initially as a physiologist, has centred on pharmacological approaches to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease.
FHEA 2015
MEd, Sheffield 2012
Ph.D. Clinical Pharmacology, Birmingham University 1977
B.Pharm Pharmacy, UWIST Cardiff, 1972
After initial training as a hospital pharmacist, Dr Haylor developed a research career in studying the kidney in health and disease. Dr Haylor was previously a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Infection and Immunity at Sheffield Medical School with over 30 years experience of teaching pharmacology to science, medical and dental undergraduates. In recent years, he was responsible for the medical undergraduate curriculum in pharmacology in Sheffield together with the introduction of the national Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) for final year medical students.
Dr Haylor’s research career began with an interest in renal physiology and the role of the eicosanoid pathway and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The first of two major collaborations was with radiologists in Diagnostic Imaging involved studying the role of the vascular endothelium in the nephrotoxic response to iodine-based contrast media. More recently, studies centred around nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, a chronic condition induced by MRI-based contrast media containing gadolinium in patients with chronic renal failure.
The second major collaboration was with clinical nephrologists at the Sheffield Kidney Institute centred on the development of drugs to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease, leading to a reduction in the requirement for renal replacement therapy. Approaches involving the growth hormone/IGF-I axis initially looked promising but unfortunately little benefit was obtained by patients with end stage kidney disease using the recombinant IGF-I hormone. Pharmacological intervention in chronic models of rodent kidney disease including hypertension, diabetes and transplantation eventually provided evidence for the role of the protein cross-linking enzyme, transglutaminase in the development of renal fibrosis. With the aid of MRC funding, an inhibitory monoclonal antibody against the transglutaminase enzyme was developed and examined for its ability to inhibit renal fibrosis with the potential for initial human trials to be undertaken in 2016.
Membership of professional and learned bodies
Teaching activities and responsibilities
Pharmacology teaching on medical and physician’s associate courses.
External Affiliations and Roles
External Examiner, Dundee and Brighton
1. Sanchez-Lara AC, Elliott J, Syme HM, Brown CA, Haylor JL Feline chronic kidney disease is associated with upregulation of transglutaminase 2: a collagen cross-linking enzyme. Veterinary Pathology 2015;52:513-523.
2. Haylor J, Schroeder J, Wagner B, Nutter F, Jestin G, Idee J-M, Morcos S. Skin gadolinium following MR contrast agents in a rat model of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. Radiology 2012;263:107-115.
3. Huang L, Haylor JL, Hau Z, Jones RA, Vickers ME, Wagner B, Griffin M, Saint RE, Coutts IGC, El Nahas AM, Johnson TS. Transglutaminase inhibition ameliorates experimental diabetic nephropathy. Kidney International 2009;76:383-394.
4. Kuan Y, Surman J, Frystyk J, El Nanas AM, Flyvbjerg A, Haylor JL. Lack of effect of IGF-I on the glomerular filtration rate in non-diabetic patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Growth Hormone and IGF Research 2009;19:219-225.
5. Delbridge MS, Shrestha BM, Raftery AT, El Nahas AM, Haylor JL. Reduction of ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat kidney by FTY720, a synthetic derivative of sphingosine. Experimental Transplantation 2007;84:187-195.