News

We’re delighted to congratulate our Director, Professor Kathy Niakan, on her Faraday Discovery Fellowship, awarded by the Royal Society. Kathy’s laboratory has pioneered approaches to investigate the genes and molecular mechanisms that regulate early human development. Her work has made important contributions to our understanding of human embryoni…

Research led by Loke CTR Director, Professor Kathy Niakan has shown that a genome editing technique can be used to alter a single gene in human embryonic cells, enabling the study of very early human development in unparalleled detail.The technique, called base editing, is a more precise version of the genome editing technique CRISPR/Cas9. It can c…

Many congratulations to Professor Ashley Moffett, on her election to the Fellowship of The Royal SocietyLoke CTR member Ashley is the foremost international authority on the immunology of human reproduction. She is distinguished for a sustained programme of research that has defined the role of the innate immune system in placentation. This has tra…

Celebrations at the University of Cambridge honour the life, work and legacy of Sir Robert Edwards, whose work revolutionised fertility treatment through the invention of in vitro fertilisation.A Nobel prize-winner and one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century, Edwards spent much of his career in the Department of Physiology a…

Loke CTR PI, Azim Surani, and Davor Solter will receive the 2026 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for their groundbreaking discovery of genomic imprinting, a phenomenon that fundamentally reshaped our understanding of genetics and epigenetics.The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is Germany’s most prestigious medical award. It ho…

Every year an estimated 10,000 women die and 200,000 babies are stillborn due to pregnancy complications caused by malaria, with 95 per cent of cases occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa.This overlooked area of research has now been thrown a lifeline by a £2 million Wellcome Trust Discovery Award made to Loke CTR member Professor Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri,…

It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Professor Robert Pijnenborg (27 May 1945–19 August 2025), Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven.Professor Pijnenborg was a member of the inaugural Scientific Advisory Board of the Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research, where his guidance helped shape the early direction of…

Loke CTR members Sung Gong, Gordon Smith and Steve Charnock-Jones, alongside colleagues in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and collaborators at Illumina, have shown that raised Leptin and Pappalysin2 cell-free RNAs are hallmarks of pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia with fetal growth restriction.In this study, published in Nature Communications, r…

Loke CTR member Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri and other researchers across Cambridge are spotlighted in a new feature as part of the SBS theme focus of Women’s Health. As theme lead Amanda says, “It’s crazy that biological sex has been so overlooked in understanding the body’s responses to drugs and treatments.It’s time we made a concerted effort to addre…

Professor Surani is to be honoured with a Kyoto Prize by the Inamori Foundation for his significant contribution to the scientific betterment of humankind. The prize presentation will take place in Kyoto on 10 November.Professor Azim Surani, Loke CTR member, Director of Germline and Epigenetics Research at the Gurdon Institute, Emeritus Fellow of K…

The placenta and the hormones it produces may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain, while also leading to the behavioural traits that have made human societies able to thrive and expand, according to a new hypothesis proposed by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.Loke CTR member Dr Alex Tsompanidis, …

Not content with achievement of a LEAF accreditation, Loke CTR Chief Laboratory Research Technician, Busma Butt has continued her sustainable efforts with the achievement of a Green Impact badge. Green Impact is a sustainability engagement programme delivered by Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK). It supports and recognises teams ac…

On May 14th 2025, a delegation from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, led by Loke CTR Next Generation Fellow Dr Priscilla Day-Walsh, participated to a parliamentary session on Reproductive Equity and the Fibroids Crisis.The meeting was organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Black Health and hosted by MP Paulette Hamilt…

We're delighted to announce that members of the Giussani Lab, headed by Loke CTR member Professor Dino Giussani, were winners at the recent international annual meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI), held in Charlotte NC, USA, March 25-29. Skaai Davison, second year PhD Student won the top abstract out of around 1,000 entries …

Loke CTR is thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the Bronze LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) Accreditation, recognising our commitment to improving sustainability and efficiency in lab operations.LEAF, developed by University College London (UCL), provides a structured framework to help laboratories reduce waste, conserve…