Laura Dearden
@lauradearden.bsky.social
Group leader in the IMS at Cambridge Uni• interested in how obesity in pregnancy impacts on mum and baby hypothalamus• Mum to 2 kids & menagerie of pets• she/her
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Your blood carries more than DNA — it carries clues🩸✨.
New research shows that cell-free DNA (cfDNA) could help spot preeclampsia (PE) early, giving moms and babies a safer start👩🍼. (1/3)
New research shows that cell-free DNA (cfDNA) could help spot preeclampsia (PE) early, giving moms and babies a safer start👩🍼. (1/3)
October 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Your blood carries more than DNA — it carries clues🩸✨.
New research shows that cell-free DNA (cfDNA) could help spot preeclampsia (PE) early, giving moms and babies a safer start👩🍼. (1/3)
New research shows that cell-free DNA (cfDNA) could help spot preeclampsia (PE) early, giving moms and babies a safer start👩🍼. (1/3)
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Up front & free to read in our Sept issue #editorspicks: Measurement of brain glucose metabolism in obesity and diabetes link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Measurement of brain glucose metabolism in obesity and diabetes - Diabetologia
The brain consumes a large amount of glucose to fuel its high metabolic demands. Understanding brain glucose metabolism is critical for understanding the brain’s normal physiology and the pathological...
link.springer.com
September 9, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Up front & free to read in our Sept issue #editorspicks: Measurement of brain glucose metabolism in obesity and diabetes link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Having a fantastic time at DOHAD 2025 in the beautiful Buenos Aires. The best place for catching up with friends and collaborators!
September 9, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Having a fantastic time at DOHAD 2025 in the beautiful Buenos Aires. The best place for catching up with friends and collaborators!
I can’t be at #ssib2025 this year but the amazing Rosanne and L are there to present their data on the impact of maternal obesity/GDM on offspring hypothalamic development, and what metformin use in pregnancy does to the fetal brain.
July 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I can’t be at #ssib2025 this year but the amazing Rosanne and L are there to present their data on the impact of maternal obesity/GDM on offspring hypothalamic development, and what metformin use in pregnancy does to the fetal brain.
Reposted by Laura Dearden
🏆 CONGRATULATIONS to Jo Lewis, 2025 winner of the Michael Harbuz Prize!
Jo will speak at #BSNBradford2025 on Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide regulates food intake and body weight via the area postrema in mice.
Register: bsnbradford2025.oa-e...
Jo will speak at #BSNBradford2025 on Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide regulates food intake and body weight via the area postrema in mice.
Register: bsnbradford2025.oa-e...
July 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
🏆 CONGRATULATIONS to Jo Lewis, 2025 winner of the Michael Harbuz Prize!
Jo will speak at #BSNBradford2025 on Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide regulates food intake and body weight via the area postrema in mice.
Register: bsnbradford2025.oa-e...
Jo will speak at #BSNBradford2025 on Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide regulates food intake and body weight via the area postrema in mice.
Register: bsnbradford2025.oa-e...
Reposted by Laura Dearden
The report calls for urgent action to:
🤰 Prioritise support during pregnancy
🍴 Ensure robust regulation of the food industry
🤝 Coordinate across govt departments i.e. food, education, urban planning and transport
🤰 Prioritise support during pregnancy
🍴 Ensure robust regulation of the food industry
🤝 Coordinate across govt departments i.e. food, education, urban planning and transport
July 2, 2025 at 8:45 AM
The report calls for urgent action to:
🤰 Prioritise support during pregnancy
🍴 Ensure robust regulation of the food industry
🤝 Coordinate across govt departments i.e. food, education, urban planning and transport
🤰 Prioritise support during pregnancy
🍴 Ensure robust regulation of the food industry
🤝 Coordinate across govt departments i.e. food, education, urban planning and transport
Reposted by Laura Dearden
🚨 Childhood obesity is rising at alarming rates around the world
Our latest report, with Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, calls for early intervention to ensure healthier futures for all children 🌱
Read the report: bit.ly/46qy7tN
And see our key takeaways 🧵
Our latest report, with Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, calls for early intervention to ensure healthier futures for all children 🌱
Read the report: bit.ly/46qy7tN
And see our key takeaways 🧵
Child’s weight for life shaped by first 1,000 days, report health experts
bit.ly
July 2, 2025 at 8:45 AM
🚨 Childhood obesity is rising at alarming rates around the world
Our latest report, with Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, calls for early intervention to ensure healthier futures for all children 🌱
Read the report: bit.ly/46qy7tN
And see our key takeaways 🧵
Our latest report, with Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, calls for early intervention to ensure healthier futures for all children 🌱
Read the report: bit.ly/46qy7tN
And see our key takeaways 🧵
Reposted by Laura Dearden
We've got something NEW for BSN ECRs!
🔬📹An Early Career Methodology video tutorial series
Our first tutorial is an Introduction to single-cell transcriptomics by Dr Sreekala Nampoothiri.
Watch: my.neuroendo.org.uk/...
Not a BSN member? Join today and get access: www.neuroendo.org.uk...
🔬📹An Early Career Methodology video tutorial series
Our first tutorial is an Introduction to single-cell transcriptomics by Dr Sreekala Nampoothiri.
Watch: my.neuroendo.org.uk/...
Not a BSN member? Join today and get access: www.neuroendo.org.uk...
June 17, 2025 at 10:13 AM
We've got something NEW for BSN ECRs!
🔬📹An Early Career Methodology video tutorial series
Our first tutorial is an Introduction to single-cell transcriptomics by Dr Sreekala Nampoothiri.
Watch: my.neuroendo.org.uk/...
Not a BSN member? Join today and get access: www.neuroendo.org.uk...
🔬📹An Early Career Methodology video tutorial series
Our first tutorial is an Introduction to single-cell transcriptomics by Dr Sreekala Nampoothiri.
Watch: my.neuroendo.org.uk/...
Not a BSN member? Join today and get access: www.neuroendo.org.uk...
Reposted by Laura Dearden
🧠🍽️ A "hunger switch" in the nose? Smelling food activates a pathway from the olfactory bulb to medial septum glutamatergic neurons in mice, triggering anticipatory satiety: making them feel full before eating.
This circuit works in lean mice but is disrupted in obesity.
#neuroskyence 🧪
This circuit works in lean mice but is disrupted in obesity.
#neuroskyence 🧪
A food-sensitive olfactory circuit drives anticipatory satiety - Nature Metabolism
The authors describe a sensory circuit involving the medial septum (MS), where MS glutamatergic neurons integrate food odours to prime satiety and regulate nutrient intake.
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 7:36 AM
🧠🍽️ A "hunger switch" in the nose? Smelling food activates a pathway from the olfactory bulb to medial septum glutamatergic neurons in mice, triggering anticipatory satiety: making them feel full before eating.
This circuit works in lean mice but is disrupted in obesity.
#neuroskyence 🧪
This circuit works in lean mice but is disrupted in obesity.
#neuroskyence 🧪
Reposted by Laura Dearden
🎉 Thrilled to share my postdoc work, with our preprint out now on BiorXiv here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We investigated how the juvenile brain develops the ability to carry out care behaviours towards neonates by an exciting and surprising switch in neural activity and behaviour
We investigated how the juvenile brain develops the ability to carry out care behaviours towards neonates by an exciting and surprising switch in neural activity and behaviour
www.biorxiv.org
June 16, 2025 at 8:17 AM
🎉 Thrilled to share my postdoc work, with our preprint out now on BiorXiv here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We investigated how the juvenile brain develops the ability to carry out care behaviours towards neonates by an exciting and surprising switch in neural activity and behaviour
We investigated how the juvenile brain develops the ability to carry out care behaviours towards neonates by an exciting and surprising switch in neural activity and behaviour
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Our latest review on perimenopause menopause and hormone therapy. What key issues have we missed and how can we do better from education to research to clinical care. With Laura Gravelsins! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
One size does not fit all: how type of menopause and hormone therapy matters for brain health | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core
One size does not fit all: how type of menopause and hormone therapy matters for brain health
www.cambridge.org
June 16, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Our latest review on perimenopause menopause and hormone therapy. What key issues have we missed and how can we do better from education to research to clinical care. With Laura Gravelsins! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Very cool paper connecting nutrition, epigenetics and developmental biology. rdcu.be/eptl7
Maternal iron deficiency causes male-to-female sex reversal in mouse embryos
Nature - Iron-deficient conditions in pregnant mice can cause XY mouse embryos to develop female rather than male genitalia, revealing that iron metabolism has a role in determining male sex in mice.
rdcu.be
June 4, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Very cool paper connecting nutrition, epigenetics and developmental biology. rdcu.be/eptl7
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Stoked to share our new review on why neuroendocrinology needs a systems lens and why hormones should matter to systems neuroscience. It’s time for serious cross-talk!
Is it finally time for systems neuroscience to take hormones seriously? OMG YES! @meenakshiasokan.bsky.social and I share some of our thoughts about recent work in this review www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Hormonal regulation of behavioral and emotional persistence: Novel insights from a systems-level approach to neuroendocrinology
Gonadal sex steroid hormones regulate internal states, social drive, perception of external cues, and learning and memory. Fluctuating hormones influe…
www.sciencedirect.com
May 30, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Stoked to share our new review on why neuroendocrinology needs a systems lens and why hormones should matter to systems neuroscience. It’s time for serious cross-talk!
Reposted by Laura Dearden
It was fantastic to have @labliston.bsky.social give a talk at the @mrc-mbu.bsky.social on building a positive research culture. Valuable for all investigators/group leaders regardless of career stage, check out the resources below:
listonlab.uk/careers/
listonlab.uk/careers/
Translational Immunology - Careers
Becoming a Scientist
listonlab.uk
April 30, 2025 at 4:19 PM
It was fantastic to have @labliston.bsky.social give a talk at the @mrc-mbu.bsky.social on building a positive research culture. Valuable for all investigators/group leaders regardless of career stage, check out the resources below:
listonlab.uk/careers/
listonlab.uk/careers/
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Food insecurity drives obesity and adiposity, but how is unclear.
A recent study by @clemmensenc.bsky.social developed a mouse model for this phenomenon lnkd.in/d8pEp2qv
Happy to share a commentary written with @johnspeakman4.bsky.social with our take on that study
doi.org/10.1002/oby....
A recent study by @clemmensenc.bsky.social developed a mouse model for this phenomenon lnkd.in/d8pEp2qv
Happy to share a commentary written with @johnspeakman4.bsky.social with our take on that study
doi.org/10.1002/oby....
Scarce and unpredictable, yet obesogenic: modeling the impact of food insecurity on adiposity in mice
Click on the article title to read more.
doi.org
April 25, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Food insecurity drives obesity and adiposity, but how is unclear.
A recent study by @clemmensenc.bsky.social developed a mouse model for this phenomenon lnkd.in/d8pEp2qv
Happy to share a commentary written with @johnspeakman4.bsky.social with our take on that study
doi.org/10.1002/oby....
A recent study by @clemmensenc.bsky.social developed a mouse model for this phenomenon lnkd.in/d8pEp2qv
Happy to share a commentary written with @johnspeakman4.bsky.social with our take on that study
doi.org/10.1002/oby....
Two pics from cycling around Cambridge this week. I really want to know what animal is being transported around in that basket!
April 25, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Two pics from cycling around Cambridge this week. I really want to know what animal is being transported around in that basket!
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Neurons involved in forming memories of a cold environment communicate with the part of the brain that regulates metabolic responses to cold stress
https://go.nature.com/4lP2EHa
https://go.nature.com/4lP2EHa
Memories of a cold place trigger bodily responses to warm up
Neurons involved in forming memories of a cold environment communicate with the part of the brain that regulates metabolic responses to cold stress.
go.nature.com
April 24, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Neurons involved in forming memories of a cold environment communicate with the part of the brain that regulates metabolic responses to cold stress
https://go.nature.com/4lP2EHa
https://go.nature.com/4lP2EHa
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Reposted by Laura Dearden
The report with the underlying data for the Washington Post story about firings of disproportionate numbers of women and underrepresented minorities from NIH Boards of Scientific Counselors.
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Letter_to_CongressApril16_2025_updated
April 16, 2025 (updated 4/21/2025) Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions House Committee on Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Health Washington, DC 20510 Report: Scientists...
docs.google.com
April 21, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The report with the underlying data for the Washington Post story about firings of disproportionate numbers of women and underrepresented minorities from NIH Boards of Scientific Counselors.
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
What a terrible loss to the field of obesity research and global health in general.
After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology.
April 17, 2025 at 11:52 AM
What a terrible loss to the field of obesity research and global health in general.
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Reposted by Laura Dearden
NIH PostBac program is open again! And I will be hiring! #JobPostComing
www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
www.training.nih.gov
April 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
NIH PostBac program is open again! And I will be hiring! #JobPostComing
www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
Reposted by Laura Dearden
Very cool new paper showing that Ago2 gene in glutamatergic neurons is critical for the formation of cerebral blood vessels in the developing mouse brain 🤩 #cerebrovascular
Glutamatergic argonaute2 promotes the formation of the neurovascular unit in mice
Neurovascular unit formation is mediated by Ago2-dependent repression of PTEN in excitatory neurons.
www.science.org
February 26, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Very cool new paper showing that Ago2 gene in glutamatergic neurons is critical for the formation of cerebral blood vessels in the developing mouse brain 🤩 #cerebrovascular