Laura Dearden

Calling on my #science network! TeamNDF is #hiring a postdoc to start in 2026!

Are you fascinated by metabolism and the brain? Do you want to dig into life long impacts and the molecular cause?

Learn more about the team and our research here: www.dife.de/en/research/...

Please share! 🧠 🍔 💉

A little life 💔

Integration of hunger and hormonal state gates infant-directed aggression - Nature Combined behavioural, circuit-level and cellular approaches are used to demonstrate how hypothalamic neurons integrate hunger and oestrous state to drive a switch in how female mice interact with pups...

Out today in Nature: We uncover a neural mechanism for the integration of two internal states - hunger and estrous state - and how this integration shapes pup-directed behaviors in mice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are investigating GLP1R agonist use pre- and during- gestation in our mouse model of obese+GDM pregnancy. Interesting results coming soon, get in touch if you want to know more!

Our new review out with @ozannelab.bsky.social exploring the current data from rodent and human studies of GLP1R agonist use in pregnancy and short/ long-term safety for mother and offspring. !https://portlandpress.com/clinsci/article/139/23/1597/236872/Incretin-receptor-agonism-during-pregnancy

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)

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...

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!

congrats Jo, not least on the excellent shoelaces

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.

🏆 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...

Professor Susan Ozanne FMedSci next to a quote that reads: "The first 1,000 days, including time in the womb, represent an important window of opportunity to set children on a healthy trajectory for life. This isn’t about individual willpower or blaming and shaming – it's about creating an environment for parents, carers and their children that supports healthy development from the very beginning."

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

Child’s weight for life shaped by first 1,000 days, report health experts

🚨 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 🧵

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...

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.

🧠🍽️ 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 🧪

🎉 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

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...

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.

Very cool paper connecting nutrition, epigenetics and developmental biology. rdcu.be/eptl7

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!

Translational Immunology - Careers Becoming a Scientist

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/

Scarce and unpredictable, yet obesogenic: modeling the impact of food insecurity on adiposity in mice Click on the article title to read more.

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....

I'm sure he would have had something to say, but maybe he already predicted this future in the books... narcissism of Vetinari and ignorance of Lord Rust...

That I would like to see!

Two pics from cycling around Cambridge this week. I really want to know what animal is being transported around in that basket!

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.

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

NIH cancels its first and largest study centered on women The Women’s Health Initiative has produced numerous influential findings

NIH cancels its first and largest study centered on women

www.science.org/content/arti...

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...

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...

What a terrible loss to the field of obesity research and global health in general.