Adam Watkins
University of Nottingham Advanced Research Fellow, Faculty of Science
Current Research
Studies using human and animal models have revealed string associations between the quality of maternal nutrition, as well as her physiology around the time of conception and the long-term, health and development of her offspring. Whilst the role of maternal nutrition and physiology has received extensive investigation, the role of paternal nutrition in offspring development has remained a neglected area. In addition, the precise mechanisms linking parental peri-conceptional nutrition with the induction of altered offspring development and disease risk are still unknown. My current research is focused on understanding the discrete parental genomic, cytoplasmic and accessory material contributions to offspring health and development following parental low protein diet (LPD) in the mouse. These studies will look at the quality of the sperm and oocytes following parental LPD, the composition of the seminal fluid and the development of the offspring they generate. These studies will combine a range of experimental techniques to examine gamete development (DNA methylation and gene expression patterns, oocyte cytoplasmic and genomic roles in offspring programming using pronuclear transfer) as well as long-term assessment of offspring development and cardiovascular function.
Past Research
Previous to taking up a University of Nottingham Advanced Research Fellowship in 2011 I conducted my Ph.D and 2 postdoctoral positions at the University of Southampton in the laboratory of Professor Tom Fleming. Here my research focused on understanding the impact of an altered mouse preimplantation embryo environment on the long-term health and development of the offspring. During my Ph. D I revealed for the first time that routine techniques associated with human assisted reproductive techniques (embryo culture and transfer) could significantly alter offspring cardiovascular and metabolic homeostatic mechanisms in the mouse. Similar findings have subsequently been observed in children derived from IVF.
During my first postdoctoral position my focus tuned to manipulating the mouse preimplantation environment in vivo through the feeding of a maternal low protein dirt (LPD) during discrete periods of development. Here we discovered that maternal LPD given exclusively during preimplantation development, just 3.5 days post conception, resulted in enhanced offspring growth, hypertension and altered cardiovascular homeostasis, elevated anxiety-related behaviour. Interestingly, when LPD was given for 3.5 days prior to conception no effects on offspring growth were observed however, elevated blood pressure and altered behavioural profiles were also observed. My second postdoctoral position then focused on investigating the mechanisms and pathways responsible in the development these observed changes postnatal phenotype.
Future Research
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