Congratulations to Anna Cochrane, a Loke CTR affiliate member and PhD student in the lab of Professor Dino Giussani, who has been selected to represent the University of Cambridge at the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar this year. Anna's selection is based on the quality of her ongoing PhD work, academic achievement, and international conference prizes.
The Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS) is an annual weeklong event for young international scientists, arranged in connection with the Nobel festivities by the SIYSS Committee of the Swedish Federation of Young Scientists. The history of SIYSS dates back to 1976 when the first seminar was organized by the Swedish Federation of Young Scientists, with inspiration from Society for Science & the Public in USA. Turning out a great success, the SIYSS program has continued, combining the encounter with Swedish science and the Nobel Prize Awarding Ceremonies with an intense social program ever since then.
The program aims to promote international understanding and friendship, bringing together young people from all over the world with similar interests. The participants are selected in different ways; some are winners of national science fairs, others represent organizations for young scientists or are selected by merit at their home universities. Whatever their background, they all have two things in common: a great interest in natural sciences and a curiosity for other cultures and people. SIYSS is a weeklong event between 4th-11th December, featuring a seminar day which is held to inspire Swedish school students to pursue a future in STEM, as well as discussion groups such as "Minds of the Future" in which invited university students discuss key issues across STEM with a Nobel laureate. The 30 participants, who are all between the ages of 18-25, will also be able to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Anna's PhD research investigates the impact of maternal obesity in pregnancy on fetal cardiovascular development in a novel ovine model. Rates of obesity have reached epidemic proportions, with over half of women in the UK entering pregnancy overweight or obese. This is concerning as women living with obesity are at higher risk of experiencing pregnancy complications. On top of this, their offspring are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. Anna's research aims to assess the impacts of maternal obesity on fetal cardiovascular health during pregnancy, and to better understand how cardiovascular dysfunction develops. Using a sheep model of maternal obesity in pregnancy, researchers are able to surgically instrument the fetal offspring for long-term monitoring of fetal cardiovascular function. So far, she has identified alterations in fetal cardiovascular function, under normal conditions and in response to common challenges experienced during pregnancy, which may predispose towards increased risk of cardiovascular disease in later life.
Adapted from a press release from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience