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Richard Lea

Associate Professor of Reproductive & Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Contact

  • workRoom B27 Veterinary Academic Building
    Sutton Bonington Campus
    Sutton Bonington
    Leicestershire
    LE12 5RD
    UK
  • work0115 951 6426
  • fax0115 951 6440

Biography

Dr Richard Lea received his PhD from Sheffield Hallam University and the Equine Fertility Unit, UK in 1988 for studies on immuno-endocrine aspects of implantation in the horse. He then carried out a 3 year post-doctoral fellowship at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. This was followed by a 3 year post-doctoral placement at the University of Edinburgh Department of Medicine and a further 2 years as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Biology. From 1996 to 2006 he was employed by the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen as a tenured senior research scientist and held an honorary lecturing post at the University of Aberdeen. In February 2006 Dr Lea joined the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham and is currently employed as an Associate Professor in Reproductive and Developmental Biology.

Expertise Summary

Richard Lea is an Associate Professor of Reproductive and Developmental Biology and is based in the Department of Surgery in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham. He is the module convenor for Veterinary Reproduction teaching and sits on the school Research Directorate as well as the Postgraduate and Safety committees. Dr Lea also serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology and the Journal of Endocrinology. In addition, he holds a committee post on the Reproductive Immunology Group (RIG: British Society for Immunology affinity group) and is also the treasurer for The Society for Reproduction and Fertility.

Research Summary

Dr Lea is very research active and for the last 12 years, his research interests have focussed on two main areas: (1) the effects of maternal nutrition on maternal immune and endocrine mechanisms… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

Dr Lea is very research active and for the last 12 years, his research interests have focussed on two main areas: (1) the effects of maternal nutrition on maternal immune and endocrine mechanisms critical for fertility and pregnancy success and (2) environmental and nutritional effects on foetal gonad development including long term consequences on reproductive wellbeing. More recently Dr Lea had also developed an interest in infectious disease in wildlife and more specifically technologies that may be used to detect multiple pathogens.

A brief synopsis of his research background and current research interests are as follows:

Research background

Dr Lea's research career began with his PhD studies on immuno-endocrine aspects of implantation in the horse. Specifically he was interested in the formation of the endometrial cups and the maternal immunological response to these placental derived structures unique to equids. At McMaster University Dr Lea worked on the immunological basis of recurrent pregnancy failure in the human and investigated immunological and endocrine mechanisms that control this process in some strains of mice. Inspired by his enthusiastic supervisor Professor Clark, Dr Lea's efforts were soon recognised with a Prize for best clinical presentation from the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society in 1989. This was followed by a number of papers in which Dr Lea made his mark in the field. After 3 years in Canada, Dr Lea returned to the UK where he completed 2 fellowships in Edinburgh. For the first 3 years Dr Lea worked on a rat model of diabetes associated embryopathy and demonstrated an effect of diabetes on the embryo prior to implantation. A successful MRC grant then enabled Dr Lea to move to the Centre for Reproductive Biology in Edinburgh to work on the effects of the anti-gestogen (RU-486) on intra-uterine immune cells and cytokines in the human.

At the Rowett Research Institute, Dr Lea expanded his research interests further through investigation of the effects of nutrition on maternal immune and endocrine mechanisms important for reproductive function (further details below). This included the investigation of mechanisms underlying the process of placental growth restriction in a sheep model of adolescent pregnancy. During this period Dr Lea also established a program investigating the effects of chemicals in the environment which behave like reproductive hormones and potentially affect development of the fetus. He was also involved in a program looking at the effects of diet, superovulation regimes and oocyte/embryo culture on DNA methylation and gene expression. In 2004 Dr Lea received the prestigious 'J Christian Herr award for excellence in Reproductive Immunology research' from The American Society for Reproductive Immunology. Details on some of these programs are as follows:

Nutritional effects on immune and endocrine processes in early pregnancy.

The immunomodulatory effects of pregnancy on the maternal immune system are well documented as are the effects of nutrition on immunity (e.g., trace elements, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids etc). Dr Lea combined these two areas in a programme of research designed to determine how altered diet affects immune mechanisms and pathways central to reproductive success. Initially this was largely based on the normal maternal immune response to the allogeneic feto-placental unit and how this may be modified by maternal nutrition. To investigate this novel area Dr Lea began by using rat models of altered maternal nutrition and demonstrated changes in immune signalling molecules (cytokines) in response to maternal dietary changes in vitamin A and iron. He also worked on a sheep model of adolescent pregnancy where young growing pregnant ewes are fed twice x maintenance diet. In this model, the ewes get larger but the lambs are born small and are in need of post-natal care. Thus the partitioning of nutrients in favour of the growing mother effectively results in fetal under-nutrition and subsequent intra-uterine growth restriction. Reduced lamb size is associated with a restriction in placental growth and both placental and maternal hormone levels are altered. Dr Lea set out to determine the biological basis of this phenomenon and subsequently published data showing changes in both developmental and steroidogenic genes.

The effects of methionine deficiency on the oocyte and pre-implantation embryo in terms of DNA methylation and its developmental consequences for the foetus, neonate and adult.

In collaboration with Dr Sinclair and Professor Young (University of, Nottingham) and Dr Rees (Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen) Dr Lea has been investigating the physiological programming effects of this narrow window of altered methionine availability on pre and post-natal development using both sheep and rat models. Dr Lea's contribution to this programme was based on the possible programming effects on placental growth and function. This research was supported by the NIH with funds awarded to Sinclair, Rees, Lea and Young.

Current Research:

(a) The effects of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on inflammatory mediators in the ovine ovary.

At the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, Dr Lea has expanded his research interests in nutritional and immunological aspects of reproduction and is currently supervising a PhD program on the effects of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on inflammatory mediators in the ovine ovary and the possible downstream consequences on ovarian function. This research programme further develops the concept of nutritional impact on normal immune mechanisms important for reproductive success. In the human, dietary PUFA's can positively influence inflammatory diseases such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis and cancer. Consequently, strategies are being developed to alter the fatty acid content of the main foods (i.e. milk and meat) by altering domestic farm animal diets. Since inflammatory mechanisms are important for follicle development and ovulation, Dr Lea is investigating the impact of altered dietary PUFA's on ovarian function in the sheep. In collaboration with Dr O Sandra (INRA, Jouy-en-Josas, France), inflammatory and developmental gene expression is being investigated by a sheep specific macroarray. Individual gene changes are being investigated by Real-time PCR and by protein based techniques including Western blot and immunohistochemistry. This work is currently supported by University of Nottingham internal funds. In collaboration with colleagues in the school, Dr Lea is also involved in a research program on mechanisms underlying the development of cystic follicles in cows.

(b) Environmental effects on the developing foetal gonad.

This research programme is based on the increased incidence of testicular cancer coupled with declining sperm counts in men and an increased incidence in reproductive abnormalities at birth (cryptorchidism and hypospadias) in specific parts of the world. Together these problems are referred to as testicular dysgenesis syndrome and this has been linked to exposure to chemicals in the environment that have estrogenic, anti-androgenic or other hormone modulating activities. Much of the data to support this association has been developed in animals and similar data in humans has been more limited. To overcome this imbalance Dr Lea has used a human fetal testis explant system to assess the effects of environmental concentrations of specific chemicals on testicular development in function in-vitro. In collaboration with Dr Fowler (University of Aberdeen) tissue has been collected under ethical approval and with full patient consent. Unique data has been generated showing that low environmental concentrations of a pesticide (dieldrin) affects endocrine function (reduced testosterone) and the expression of developmental and steroidogenic genes. We have published in J Exp Med and a number of other journals.

More recently, Dr Lea has had considerable success in raising research funds from the European Union Framework 7 initiative. The EU has awarded 3 million euros to investigate the effects of environmental chemicals on female reproductive development and fertility and Dr Lea is a partner in this international initiative. Dr Lea and colleagues are looking at the effects of environmental concentrations of chemicals on the development of the fetal ovary.

(c) Novel Technologies for Surveillance of Emerging and Re-emerging Infections of Wildlife

There is increasing concern over new emerging diseases threatening animal and human health, many of which have wildlife populations as a source and target. Considering the magnitude of this problem, current disease surveillance of wildlife populations across Europe is minimal. This initiative is designed to provide novel technologies which will contribute to the development of a comprehensive system of surveillance of wild animal diseases relevant to European public and animal health. Initiated by Dr Lea and his colleagues in the vet school, this project has allowed Dr Lea to expand his portfolio and apply his technological expertise into an area of international concern both within and outside the EU. In support of this work, Dr Lea and colleagues in the vet school have had considerable success in raising further funds from the EU totalling 6 million euros. The focus of the grant is to develop nucleic acid arrays for the detection of multiple pathogens in a single sample and serological arrays for investigating host response to the pathogen. A state of the art disease management system and epidemiological modelling systems are also being developed as part of this consortium. There are 13 partners across Europe and a network of 24 Associate Partners (wildlife specialists) involved in this crucially important program.

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School of Veterinary Medicine and Science

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Leicestershire, LE12 5RD

telephone: +44 (0)115 951 6116
fax: +44 (0)115 951 6415
email: veterinary-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk