Dr Laura Dearden

Interests

I am a post-doctoral research associate in Professor Sue Ozanne’s lab in the Institute of Metabolic Science. The Ozanne lab is interested in understanding how exposure to maternal obesity programs an increased risk of cardio-metabolic disease in offspring. My research is focused specifically on how an obese pregnancy alters the fetal development of hypothalamic feeding centres, resulting in altered feeding regulation and subsequent obesity in these animals. I use a combination of in vitro and in vivo techniques to investigate how maternal obesity and maternal hormones such as insulin alter the development of the hypothalamus. I also study feeding behaviour and hypothalamic anatomy/ gene expression in adult offspring. I have a particular interest in miRNAs as mediators of the impact of maternal obesity on offspring brain development.

Research Focus

Equipment

Behavioural analysis

Cell culture

Confocal microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy

Immunohistochemistry

Microscopy