Dr Melissa Westwood BSc, PhD (Manchester), FSB

Developmental Biomedicine Research Group Lead

School of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences.

 

Society for Endocrinology

American Endocrine Society

Institute of Health Sciences Diabetes and Obesity Research Network

Fellow Society of Biology

The Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre aims to perform basic scientific and clinical studies of normal and complicated pregnancies in order to improve pregnancy outcome though the translation of research findings into clinical practice.

Adequate placental development and function are essential for a healthy and successful pregnancy as the placenta provides a physical interface that permits the efficient exchange of nutrients and waste products between the mother and the developing baby. Consequently our Centre's portfolio of projects on the development and function of the placenta span from the point of pregnancy inception through to late gestation with an emphasis on establishing and refining laboratory models that replicate normal placental behaviour.
 

Pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and maternal diabetes, which leads to fetal overgrowth, are the most commonly encountered pregnancy complications.

All three conditions are associated with significant neonatal mortality and morbidity and currently, there are no effective interventions. Furthermore, abnormal fetal growth is also linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in later life, suggesting that individuals can be ‘programmed’ during fetal life, resulting in life-threatening disease in adulthood. The exact cause of both pre-eclampsia and FGR is unknown, although abnormal development and / or function of the placenta have been implicated in both conditions. Abnormal placental growth and function also contribute to the fetal overgrowth that occurs in pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes
 

My research group is trying to understand how the placenta normally develops and functions, and in particular, how this is regulated at the molecular (e.g. by miRNAs), and cellular (e.g. growth factors and lipids such as sphingosine-1-phosphate) level in order to identify novel strategies for clinical intervention. We are currently testing potential therapies, identified through our previous research, in models of pregnancy disease.
We are also trying to identify new ways to predict who is going to suffer from pregnancy complications and are investigating possible interventions to counter pregnancy problems caused by lifestyle factors such as maternal nutrition and anxiety.

Find out more at http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/aplinwestwood
 

Postgraduate Research

I have successfully supervised 9 PhD and MPhil students and am currently supervising 4 further students.

I, and other members of the Research Centre, would be pleased to hear from students wishing to study for a higher research degree in the area of pregnancy. For further information on studentships currently available within our Centre, please see Posgraduate Opportunities.

Undergraduate Teaching

Through lecture events, tutorials, PBL and project / dissertation supervision, I contribute to many aspects of the BSc and MBChB programmes facilitated by the Faculty of Life Sciences

• Lecturer on
  • BSc 3rd year Unit - Human Reproductive Biology
  • BSc 3rd year Unit - Clinical Endocrinology
  • BSc 2nd year Unit - Endocrinology & Reproduction
• MBChB PBL tutor for Semester 1 - Life Cycle
• Offer laboratory-based projects for 3rd year BSc students
• Offer literature projects (SSC) for 1st year MBChB students
• Offer laboratory-based projects for 4th year MBChB students
• Offer projects for MRes students

I graduated form the University of Manchester with a first class honours degree in Anatomical Sciences in 1991 and began my PhD studies, also at the University of Manchester, with Professor Anne White. My project was supposed to investigate the role of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis in diabetic neuropathy but an unexpected finding led me into pregnancy research and this has remained the focus of my reseach ever since. In 1997 I was awarded a prestigious Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship to pursue my PhD findings, which resulted in a number of key studies relating to the control of IGF bioavailability in normal and compromised pregnancies.

I was appointed Lecturer in Endocrinology in the Schools of Medicine and Biological Sciences in 1999 and Senior Lecturer in 2005. My research group currently consists of 6 postdoctoral research associates and PhD students funded mainly through Research Council, charitable and industrial sources and we are part of the Maternal and Fetal Helath Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Human & Medical Sciences. The Centre is made up of over 60 scientists, clinician-scientists, technical and clerical staff, therefore forming the largest pregnancy research group in Europe.

I am editor of the Endocrinologist  and also serve on the Editorial Board for Trophoblast Research and the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. I am a member of the International Federation of the Placenta Association's Publications Committee.

1991  BSc (Hons) Anatomical Sciences  (1st class),  University of Manchester 

1995  PhD  Medicine, University of Manchester     

2006  PGCE  Teaching & Learning  in Higher Education, University of Manchester     

Affiliated staff and students

• Raja Nadif – Post-doctoral Research Associate. “Can statins be used during pregnancy complicated by maternal diabetes to prevent macrosomia and long-term metabolic abnormalities in the offspring?”. Funded by a Diabetes UK grant with Professors John Aplin, Colin Sibley and Martin Gibson.

• Jayne Charnock – Post-doctoral Research Associate. “A novel placental therapy for fetal growth restriction”. Funded by a Castang Foundation grant with Dr Ian Crocker and Professors John Aplin and Colin Sibley.

• Khiria Alsaghir – PhD student. “Sphingosine-1-phosphate and extravillous trophoblast invasion”. Co-supervised with Dr Edward Johnstone.

• Christopher Fitzpatrick - Tommy's funded PhD student. "Altering microRNAs to regulate placental development in pregnancies complicated by diabetes". Co-supervised with Dr Karen Forbes and Professor John Aplin.

 • Charlotte Hulme - MRC funded PhD student. "Understanding placental function in pregnancies complicated by diabetes: important implications for future health". Co-supervised with Drs Jenny Myers, Alex Heazell & Rick Dunn.

• Stephanie Swietlik - BBSRC funded PhD student. "Building new blood vessels from cyropreserved placenta". Co-supervised with Dr Ed Johnstone and Professor John Aplin.

• Imogen Butcher - Novo Nordisk UK funded PhD student. "An integrated functional genomics and metabolomics approach for characterising postnatal catch-up growth". Co-supervised with Professor Peter Clayton.

• Christal Fisher – Tommy’s / MRC funded PhD student. “Quantitative proteomics in pre-eclampsia”. Co-supervised with Dr Jenny Myers.

• James Newham - Tommy's funded PhD student. "Interventions for reducing maternal anxiety during pregnancy". Co-supervised with Professor John Aplin and Dr Anja Wittowski.