News

Placental imprinting: Emerging mechanisms and functions, just published in PLOS Genetics

24 April 2020

As the maternal–foetal interface, the placenta is essential for the establishment and progression of healthy pregnancy, regulating both foetal growth and maternal adaptation to pregnancy. The evolution and functional importance of genomic imprinting are inextricably linked to mammalian placentation. Recent technological...

Double-label immunohistochemistry to assess labyrinth structure of the mouse placenta with stereology

23 April 2020

The study was published by the Sferruzzi-Perri lab on the journal Placenta Summary: for many years the assessment of the mouse labyrinth zone has been performed using Ultrathin Resin Toluidine Blue sections, a technique that is difficult to perform as it requires specific tools and reagents. Because of it, many labs have...

Professor Wolf Reik receives an ERC Advanced Grant to study crucial developmental process

17 April 2020

New funding awarded to Professor Wolf Reik, Head of the Epigenetics research programme at the Babraham Institute and a member of the Loke CTR and the SRI's Steering Committee, will support research into one of the earliest and most important processes in early development. Professor Reik will receive funding through a...

Paper on parental pathogen exposure and how it affects offspring just published in Nature Communications

9 April 2020

Nick Burton has just published a new studio on Nature Communications about how the response in parents to environmental stress, such as infections, can prime their offspring to better react to the same type of stress. A parent’s exposure to environmental stresses, including pathogen infections, have been reported to prime...

John Robinson, Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Cell Biology, Ohio State University, passes away

7 April 2020

We are profoundly saddened by news of the death of John Robinson of Ohio State University. John was a man of immense integrity and renowned for his meticulous approach to science, in particular the proteomics of placental cell membranes. He, and his dry sense of humour, will be greatly missed.

Innovative 3-D scaffold project just published in Interface Focus

30 March 2020

Yassen Abbas, Loke CTR Research Associate, publishes the research article "Generation of a three-dimensional collagen scaffold-based model of the human endometrium" in Interface Focus Click here to read the full research article

Dr Roser Vento-Tormo awarded an Early Career Research Award from the Biochemical Society

25 March 2020

Dr Roser Vento-Tormo, Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, is one of the ten researchers to have been honoured in the 2021 Biochemical Society Awards . These prestigious awards recognise excellence and achievement by eminent scientists and by researchers in the early stages of their career. “I am thrilled to...

Study predicts fetal growth restriction using metabolomics

12 March 2020

A study by Ulla Sovio, Gordon Smith and colleagues, published in Nature Medicine, has identified metabolites predictive of fetal growth restriction (FGR) at term. The study was funded by NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (Women’s Health theme), Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, National Institutes of Health...

CTR visitor Giulia Avellino to receive the President's Plenary Award

24 January 2020

Loke CTR visitor Giulia Avellino to receive the President's Plenary Award at the Society for Reproductive Investigations meeting in Vancouver. The President's Plenary Awards recognize the four highest ranked abstracts chosen from over 1000 abstracts for presentation at the President's New Investigator Plenary Session. Many...

Loke CTR member Yassen Abbas publishes paper on "Tissue stiffness at the human maternal-fetal interface"

9 October 2019

Loke CTR member Yassen Abbas has recently published a paper on "Tissue stiffness at the human maternal-fetal interface". Summary and link below. Yassen's work is funded by both Loke CTR and the Isaac Newton Trust. Summary: Mechanics is now widely recognised as an important regulator of cell behaviour. However, it has...