Dr Nina Balthasar, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol
MRC INTEGRATIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY UNIT (IEU)
SEMINAR
THURSDAY 4TH DECEMBER, 2014
1600 – 1700 : SEMINAR ROOM
2nd FLOOR, OAKFIELD HOUSE
DR NINA BALTHASAR
READER IN NEUROSCIENCE, SCHOOL OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY. UNIVERISTY OF BRISTOL
“Thanks, mum: CNS mechanisms underpinning dietary in utero influences on offspring health”
Abstract
Poor maternal diet influences offspring health in later life: e.g. offspring of obese mothers are programmed to also become overweight. The hypothalamus plays a critical role in regulating whole body energy homeostasis; appropriate nutrient and hormone exposure of the fetus is important for healthy development of these hypothalamic pathways. Our data in mice suggest that maternal diet during pregnancy per se plays a key role in adult offspring health, however the mechanisms leading in utero nutritional insults to have long-lasting effects are unclear. In this seminar we will explore our data in mice and look at future applications of e.g. CNS area-specific epigenomic approaches to understand how nutritional exposures are recorded and transmitted through subsequent generations.
Nina Balthasar
Current Appointment | Reader in Neuroscience, School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol |
01-2007 - 06-2012 | RCUK Academic Research Fellow |
01-2006 - 09-2010 | British Heart Foundation Intermediate Basic Research Fellow, School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol |
11-2000 - 12-2005 | Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Division of Endocrinology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA |
10-1997 - 11-2000 | PhD studentship, National Institute for Medical Research, London |
10-1992 - 08-1997 | Biochemie Diplom (biochemistry degree course), class 2, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London |