Philip Randle

{{Short description|British medical researcher}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Philip John Randle | honorific_suffix = FRS | image = Philip Randle.gif | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date |1926|07|15|df=yes}} | birth_place = Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age |2006|09|26|1926|07|15|df=yes}} | death_place = Oxford, England | other_names = | citizenship =  | fields = Biochemistry | workplaces = Cambridge University, University of Bristol, Oxford University | patrons = | education = King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton; Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; UCL Medical School | thesis_title = Studies on the Metabolic Action of Insulin | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor = Frank George Young | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Randle cycle of carbohydrate and fat metabolism | awards = Knighted, 1975 | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = }} '''Sir Philip John Randle''' (16 July 1926 – 26 September 2006) was a British biochemist and medical researcher after whom the Randle cycle is named.<ref name="urlBristol University | News from the University | Professor Sir Philip Randle">{{cite web |url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2006/5164.html |title=Bristol University | News from the University | Professor Sir Philip Randle |website= |accessdate=2008-12-05}}</ref><ref name="pmid17473914">{{cite journal |vauthors=Denton RM, Ashcroft SJ |title=A tribute to the life and work of Philip Randle |journal=Diabetologia |volume=50 |issue=7 |pages=1359–61 |date=July 2007 |pmid=17473914 |doi=10.1007/s00125-007-0677-1|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="pmid17408519">{{cite journal |author=Sugden MC |title=In appreciation of Sir Philip Randle: the glucose-fatty acid cycle |journal=Br. J. Nutr. |volume=97 |issue=5 |pages=809–13 |date=May 2007 |pmid=17408519 |doi=10.1017/S0007114507659054 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Early life and education== Born 16 July 1926 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Randle was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton; Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he read the Natural Sciences Tripos, graduating with first-class honours and an M.A.; University College Hospital and the UCL Medical School, where he read medicine and graduated with an M.D.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1007/BF00400839|pmid = 7821731|title = Mechanisms modifying glucose oxidation in diabetes mellitus| journal=Diabetologia| volume=37| pages=S155–S161|year = 1994|last1 = Randle|first1 = P. J.| last2=Priestman| first2=D. A.| last3=Mistry| first3=S.| last4=Halsall| first4=A.| doi-access=free}}</ref>

After qualifying as a medical doctor, Randle returned to the University of Cambridge to undertake a Ph.D. under Professor Frank George Young.<ref name="Brown">H. Brown. (2006.) [http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2806%2969683-9/fulltext Sir Philip Randle], The Lancet, 368(9548):1644.</ref> 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.<ref name="The Independent"/>

==Career== In 1964 he was appointed founding professor of biochemistry at the University of Bristol where he built a strong department which carried out original research into mitochondrial transporters, molecular enzymology, protein structure, and mammalian metabolism.<ref name = PR> {{cite web| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1531004/Professor-Sir-Philip-Randle.html|title=Professor Sir Philip Randle|date=10 October 2006 |publisher= The Telegraph|accessdate= 20 February 2017}} </ref>

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 in 1983<ref> {{cite web|url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27randle%27%29|title= Fellow details|publisher= Royal Society|accessdate= 20 February 2017}} </ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ashcroft|first1=S. J. H.|last2=Denton|first2=R. M.|date=2021|title=Sir Philip John Randle. 16 July 1926—26 September 2006|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=70|pages=359–385 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2020.0044 |s2cid=231938474 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and was President of the Biochemical Society 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.<ref name="Brown"/> 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.<ref name= PR/>

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 died in Oxford on 26 September 2006.<ref name="The Independent"/> He was married to Elizabeth Harrison (d. 2004) and had son Peter and three daughters, Susan, Sally, and Rosalind.<ref name="Brown"/><ref name="The Independent">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sir-philip-randle-426680.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112052728/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sir-philip-randle-426680.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2012|title=Professor Sir Philip Randle - Obituaries|work=The Independent|date=2 December 2006}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

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