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SUMMARY:Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research - Seminar Series - Marika Cha
 ralambous
DTSTART:20251125T160000Z
DTEND:20251125T170000Z
UID:TALK240685@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:120118
DESCRIPTION:Tuesday 25th November\, 16:00 in the Hodgkin Huxley Seminar Ro
 om \n \nTalk title: Conversations between mother and fetus: lipid dynamics
  in pregnancy\n\nSpeaker: Marika Charalambous\, Professor of Developmental
  Physiology\nDepartment of Medical and Molecular Genetics\, King's College
  London\n\nHost: Courtney Hanna\n\nAbstract\n\nDuring a normal pregnancy\,
  maternal metabolism undergoes striking adaptations to meet the nutritiona
 l demands of the developing fetus. Anabolic pathways in early pregnancy pr
 omote the net accumulation of nutrients within maternal tissues\, primaril
 y in the form of triglycerides. A mid-gestation catabolic switch then driv
 es the breakdown of nutrient stores\, ensuring the circulating availabilit
 y of fatty acids and glucose for fetal uptake. These dynamically regulated
  shifts in maternal nutrient allocation are vital for a healthy pregnancy\
 , as poor adaptations\, commonly seen in obese pregnancy\, can profoundly 
 disrupt the development and long-term metabolic health of the child. \n\nF
 atty acids are crucial components at every stage of fetal development\, no
 t just as an energy source\, but also to provide building blocks and key s
 ignals for organogenesis. Although adipose-derived non-esterified fatty ac
 ids can be directly transported across the placenta\, the majority are tra
 nsferred to the maternal liver\, a highly adaptive\, yet poorly characteri
 sed metabolic tissue in pregnancy. Hepatic re-esterification of fatty acid
 s into triglycerides and export into the circulation within lipoproteins u
 nderlies the characteristic rise in plasma triglycerides in late gestation
  and is considered the primary source of fatty acids for the fetus. Howeve
 r\, the molecular mechanisms driving this process are not well understood.
 \nWe recently profiled the liver and plasma lipidomes of virgin and pregna
 nt mice as an unbiased discovery approach for lipid pathways in the matern
 al liver that are associated with maternal fatty acid provision to the con
 ceptus. With the aid of several genetic models of disrupted lipid metaboli
 sm\, we have begun to delineate the major maternal lipid pathways that und
 erlie the fatty acid adaptations of late pregnancy. In my talk I will shar
 e our current work in the lab which attempts to answer the following quest
 ions: How are fatty acids stored and mobilised from maternal tissues? How 
 does the placenta transport these fatty acids to the fetus? Can the fetal-
 placental unit signal fatty acid demand? \n
LOCATION:Hodgkin-Huxley Seminar Room\, PDN\, Downing Site 
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