Funding Funding is often secured through Wellcome Trust or MRC DTP Fellowships. Further information about this and specific projects studying under the supervision of Departmental supervisors who have obtaine...

📢We're recruiting!📢
We're looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated PhD student to join the lab of @cathwilliamson.bsky.social at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social under co-supervision of Vasso Terzidou and myself, to study potential of bile acid therapies for preterm birth. Apply by Feb 28th!

Latest paper showing microbiotal differences in adult female offspring of hypercholanaemic dams, likely influencing their vulnerability to metabolic disease when given a Western diet

This work highlights the potential the intestinal bile acid system and/or gut microbiota as potential therapeutic targets for ICP, and stresses the need more follow-up studies looking at the impact of maternal bile acids on offspring gut microbiota!

We report changes in the microbial communities and bile metabolome of the intestines from both mums and female offspring following maternal cholic acid feeding (🐭 model of intrahepatic cholestasis or #ICP).

SEBM | Maternal diet-induced hypercholanemia alters gut microbiota and metabolome in adult female Western diet-fed offspring Children of mothers with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) are more likely to develop metabolic disease later in life. Using a mouse model of gesta...

🎉 New paper alert 🎉
Our latest paper, "Maternal diet-induced hypercholanemia alters gut microbiota and metabolome in adult female Western diet-fed offspring", led by @carolineovadia.bsky.social and @cathwilliamson.bsky.social, is out now in Experimental Biology and Medicine!

Exploring the cardiovascular outcome in the offspring of metformin-treated obese mice YouTube video by The Physiological Society

Editor's Choice Paper by @jmschoonejans.bsky.social @ozannelab.bsky.social 'Balancing maternal benefits and cardiovascular risks of metformin during pregnancy' now includes a video short by Josca
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2aB...

Read paper - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Maternal obesity during pregnancy disrupts iron homeostasis and promotes fetal hypoxia in the mouse Abstract figure legend Maternal obesity induces systemic inflammation and high insulin and leptin levels, potentially promoting hepcidin release into circulation and thus iron sequestration in specif....

Interesting new paper from the @ozannelab.bsky.social showing maternal iron homeostasis, not placental dysfunction, is associated with fetal hypoxia at e13.5 in obese mouse pregnancy physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

Maternal body composition and the placental-fetal unit under maternal high-fat feeding partially improve by metformin treatment or lifestyle interventions during pregnancy in a mouse model Studies showed that metabolic imbalances during pregnancy in obesity impair the maternal-fetal axis, resulting in fetal growth disturbances with highe…

Interesting new mouse study comparing different interventions for HFD-fed #pregnancy. Lifestyle interventions (nutrition most strongly) improved placental morphology, feto-placental vascularisation and growth restriction, while #metformin did not
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

See our paper here

Interesting! This work shows greater contribution of liver insulin resistance in Nordic vs South Asian women with past GDM - consistent with our finding that serum bile acids (correlating with HOMA-IR, reflecting hepatic insulin sensitivity) were increased in European but not SA women with #GDM

Clare M. Reynolds of ucddublin.bsky.social offers this #Perspective on cardiovascular trade-offs of metformin use in pregnancy based on research by Schoonejans et al. (2025)✍️

🔗 physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

🎓 EDITOR'S CHOICE 🎓
Schoonejans and colleagues now show that when female mice are given metformin in addition to an obesogenic diet during #pregnancy, their offspring display various adverse impacts on #cardiovascular health in a sex-specific manner.
📜 physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

My poster looking at cardiovascular effects of prenatal #metformin exposure is up #DOHaD2025 (PS3.002)! Come by during the session this morning or find me during the day 🐭🫀🤰

Again, thanks to @physoc.bsky.social & @socendocrinology.bsky.social for making it possible to travel to Argentina!

My first poster is up today at
#DOHaD2025! Come by poster PS1.006 to chat about paternal influences on offspring fat and energy balance 🐁

Huge thanks to @socendocrinology.bsky.social
& @physoc.bsky.social for the travel grants that made presenting here possible!

🌟 We made the cover🌟

Our image of a female aorta exposed to #metformin in utero is on the cover of @jphysiol.bsky.social. The paper was also the Editor's Choice!

Interested? I'm presenting this next Wednesday at #DOHAD2025 in Buenos Aires (PS3.002). Come say hi or connect on here! #DOHaD

OBGYN Click on the article title to read more.

New paper alert! We found that serum #bile #acids were increased in women from the HAPO study diagnosed with #GDM based on fasting glucose, confirming our previous findings in another European cohort tinyurl.com/BAinGDM @bjog.bsky.social

I was very glad to present my @tommyscharity.bsky.social -funded work on #bile #acids in #preterm #labour today at the IRDB internal work in progress seminar. Thanks for the invite and for all the interesting questions ! @imperialmdr.bsky.social

New paper update! bsky.app/profile/jmsc...

Randomized, controlled trial of the impact of ursodeoxycholic acid on glycemia in gestational diabetes mellitus: the GUARDS trial Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a pregnancy complication that can be associated with increased risks of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.…

Women with #GDM with high ursodeoxycholic acid levels in the blood following #UDCA treatment are more likely to have fasting glucose within recommended ranges, suggesting potential benefit in GDM management🤰

sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @cathwilliamson.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/jmsc...

"Treated Mothers, Troubled Hearts: Cardiovascular Trade-Offs of #Metformin Use in #Pregnancy", a title that reflects the difficult considerations of the metformin debate. A great Perspective on our recently published work!
physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
@jphysiol.bsky.social

Cardiovascular outcome in 12‐month‐old male and female offspring of metformin‐treated obese mice Abstract figure legend This study described the effects of exposure to maternal obesogenic diet and metformin treatment during pregnancy on offspring cardiovascular outcomes. Maternal diet-induced ob...

Full paper here: physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

This highlights the need for long-term cardiovascular follow up in offspring (of both sexes!) from human metformin-treated pregnancies to inform decisions about its use in pregnancy - a tricky question that requires balancing mum and baby's health 👩‍🍼

Offspring of obese mice had hypertension and diastolic dysfunction by 12mo. Maternal #metformin worsened the phenotype and introduced sex-dependent CV alterations in both male (cardiac stiffening, vascular dysfunction) & female (obesity-induced hypertension) offspring.

Our new paper showing sex-specific adverse #cardiovascular outcomes of prenatal #metformin exposure in a mouse model of diet-induced glucose intolerance is out now in @jphysiol.bsky.social ! 🐁❤️ ♂️♀ Find it here shorturl.at/VKqjD (in collab with @ozannelab.bsky.social & Giussani labs) #DOHaD

Come with us to visit the Tommy's National Centre for Preterm Birth Research 🩷 Last week, some of the team had the chance to visit the centre at Imperial College London and hear from the researchers a... TikTok video by Tommy’s

We had @tommyscharity.bsky.social visit our lab last week! It was a pleasure to take you round our labs and talk about the exciting #preterm #birth projects we work on at @imperialmdr.bsky.social.

An impression of the day: www.tiktok.com/@tommyschari...

Career development update / an example of an exciting project announced this month! bsky.app/profile/jmsc...

Two posters from the group today! I'm showing #paternal #programming of sWAT in male offspring of hypercholanaemic dads (3022); Madeleine reports on the impact of HFD & intermittent cold exposure on adipose tissue/liver in a mouse #MASLD model (3013) @keystonesymposia.bsky.social #KSObesity25 #DOHaD

Alice is representing the Williamson group today with her poster 2029 on how #maternal #obesity and hyperglycemia is associated with reduced neonatal brown adipose tissue response to #cold exposure! Come have a look! @keystonesymposia.bsky.social #KSObesity25 #BAT #DOHaD

The sun was out on the mountain today while we snowshoed all the way from Alberta to British Columbia! A glorious welcome to Banff, ready for @keystonesymposia.bsky.social #KSObesity25 tomorrow!