Dr Ian Crocker BSc, PhD

Senior Scientist, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group.

Blair Bell Society (Committee Member), British Society for Cell Biology, Physiological Society, Biochemical Society, Society for Gynecologic Investigation, FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology).

As senior scientist within the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group my research focus is the placenta and its role in pregnancy complications, predominantly pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. I hold a Department of Health RCD Personal Fellowship which is running concurrently with a University of Manchester Stepping Stones Award. I have supervised 20 individuals in successful research projects, including students, research fellows and technicians, and I currently lead an active research group investigating numerous aspects of normal and abnormal placental function, including cell turnover, haemodynamics and secretion.

Immunohisto/cytochemistry, flow cytometry (departmental supervisor), cell isolation, cell/tissue culture, stereology, confocal microscopy, protein extraction/analysis, wire-myography, ion-exchange/affinity chromatography and HPLC.

I currently supervise 6 research projects, 1 postdoctoral scientist, 1 undergraduate students and 4 research fellows, as well as advising others. I have lectured on the International Exchange Programme for Developmental and Perinatal Biology, between the Universities of Manchester and Toronto and the Karolinska Institute. I regularly lecture in Biochemistry for the MRCOG Part 1 revision course and have led faculty research workshops within the University.

Despite training as a Chemist, graduating in Biochemistry from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and a short stint in secondary teaching, my career interests have been mainly in obstetric research and maternal and fetal interactions. I obtained my doctorate on the immunosuppressive effects of pregnancy on rheumatoid arthritis in 2001 and this was followed by the study of neutrophil function in pre-eclampsia. Since joining the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, my focus has been the placenta and more specifically the importance of aberrant placental cell turnover in pre-eclampsia and IUGR. I have presented extensively at international meetings and was recently awarded the prestigious Gabor Than Award by the International Federation of Placental Associations for my outstanding contributions to the field of placental research. I have 35 published peer-reviewed full articles and 4 invited book chapters. I am an expert reviewer for numerous international journals (including Aging Cell, Endocrinology and Journal of Pathology) and grant funding bodies (including Action Medical Research, The Wellcome Trust and Wellbeing of Women), and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Placenta.

BSc, PGCE, PhD

Prof Gil Mor and Dr Vikki Abrahams, Yale University, USA

Dr Carl Hubel, Magee Research Institute, Pittsburgh, USA

Dr Louise Kenny, University College Cork, Ireland

Prof Penny Gowland and Dr George Bugg, University of Nottingham, UK