News

Dr Kathy Niakan appointed as next Chair of the Cambridge Reproduction SRI

13 July 2020

We are delighted that Dr Kathy Niakan has been elected to the Mary Marshall and Arthur Walton Professorship of the Physiology of Reproduction from October 2020, and will become the next Chair of the Cambridge Reproduction SRI. Kathy’s research at the Francis Crick Institute in London has focused on studying the mechanisms determining cell fate decisions in the human early embryo, in particular the origin of the trophectoderm lineage.

New 'model embryos' allow the study of early human development

26 June 2020

Scientists from the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands, have developed a new model to study an early stage of human development using human embryonic stem cells. Published recently in the journal Nature , the report describes a method of using human embryonic stem cells...

Chicks hatch clue on life-saving therapy for preterm babies

5 June 2020

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have suggested that subtle changes to the drugs administered to mothers threatened with preterm birth or to premature babies could further improve clinical treatment and help increase their safety. While the current practice of using glucocorticoid therapy shows life-saving...

Professor Wolf Reik FRS appointed Acting Director of the Babraham Institute

28 May 2020

Professor Wolf Reik has been appointed the Babraham Institute's Acting Director with immediate effect, following the sad loss of Professor Michael Wakelam at the end of March. Professor Reik is an internationally renowned expert in the field of epigenetics and has led the Institute's Epigenetics research programme since...

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

6 April 2020

New funding awarded to Professor Wolf Reik will support research into how the epigenetic landscape in early development impacts gastrulation, one of the earliest and most important processes in early development. This knowledge will inform strategies for regenerative medicine based on the use of stem cells, and improve our understanding of how developmental disorders arise in humans.

Graham Burton being presented with the 2019 SRF Distinguished Scientist Award

Graham Burton, Jorge Lopez-Tello and Kate Williams win 2019 SRF awards

24 January 2020

Three members of the Cambridge Reproduction SRI were recognised for the excellence of their research at the 2019 Society for Reproduction & Fertility (SRF) awards. The awards for Professor Graham Burton, Dr Jorge Lopez-Tello and Ms Kate Williams were presented at Fertility 2020, the largest UK educational forum focusing on fertility and reproductive medicine.

Placenta changes could mean male offspring of older mums more likely to develop heart problems in later life, rat study finds

28 November 2019

Changes occur in the placenta in older pregnant mothers leading to a greater likelihood of poor health in their male offspring, a study in rats has shown. Both male and female fetuses do not grow as large in older mothers, but there are sex-specific differences in changes to placental development and function. These are...

'The Hidden Affliction' book launch: photos and videos

21 November 2019

Last week saw the launch of a new multidisciplinary collection of essays about the relationship between the 'historic' sexually transmitted infections - gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and syphilis - and infertility. The Hidden Affliction: sexually transmitted infections and infertility in history (University of Rochester Press...

£10 million Human Developmental Biology Initiative announced

13 August 2019

Researchers from the Babraham Institute and the Gurdon Institute will contribute to a world-first research project that will unravel how human embryos develop in the first weeks and months after fertilisation, improving our understanding of fertility, birth defects and regenerative medicine . The £10 million Wellcome-...

Smoking and pre-eclampsia may cause fertility problems for offspring, study suggests

23 April 2019

Collaborative studies between research groups at the Department of Physiology Development and Neuroscience and Professor Sue Ozanne's in the Clinical School have yielded a paper published in FASEB J which has also had press interest.