Professor Kevin Sinclair, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham
Monday 17th February, 4.00 p.m. Stacey Lecture Theatre 1
Overview: Compelling evidence exists, both from epidemiological studies in humans and direct interventionist studies in animals, to indicate that impaired reproductive fitness and many non-communicable diseases of adulthood originate from aberrant developmental events that occur in utero. Studies at Nottingham focus on the periconceptional period and consider the effects of parental nutrition and the composition of gamete/embryo culture media employed in assisted reproduction (ART), with an emphasis on one-carbon metabolism and epigenetic programming of offspring health. Studies in each of these three areas extend from rodents to large animals, and utilise embryonic and somatic cells and tissues of human origin.