Building a healthy baby is the foundation of life-long health.
Fetal responses to maternal environmental cues can alter developmental pathways in ways that have long-lasting effects on our health and the way our bodies interact with the future environment.
In the Developmental Physiology research group, we seek to understand how we develop across the life course and the processes in very early development, from molecules to whole body, which explain our physiological function in the world in which we live. Using our established links to Southampton’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit and Biomedical Research Centre, our basic science will lead to new interventions to optimise maternal and child health. Working to translate our science into clinic and populations will help build a strong foundation for health across the life course.
Our research focuses on:
- Pre-implantation embryo growth and metabolic responses to altered nutrition
- Placental structure and transport of nutrients
- Fetal growth and blood flow adaptations to altered nutrition
- The interactions between prenatal and postnatal nutrition in determining adult physiology and health risk
- Diet and drug interventions to minimise the impact of altered early life environments
- The impact of HIV exposure and its treatment on pregnancy outcome, childhood immune function and adult health
Our scientists actively engage students and public of all ages in the work of the Developmental Physiology group through undergraduate/postgraduate science and medicine modules undergraduate/postgraduate science/medicine modules, Southampton’s LifeLab, Festivals, school visits and social media.
