Metabolic changes such as increasing insulin resistance and immunological changes such as altered susceptibility to various infectious and autoimmune diseases are all features of normal pregnancy. Immunometabolism provides a framework for understanding the link between these and an overview of this will be provided alongside highlighting how perturbations in this relationship between metabolism and immunity might underpin adverse pregnancy outcomes such as gestational diabetes.
The interaction of metabolism and immunity in pregnancy
Date of the session
03/21/2025
Mode of delivery
Zoom
Time of the session
3:00 pm
Guest Speaker
Professor Cathy Thornton
About the speaker
Cathy Thornton is Professor of Human Immunology at Swansea University where she is Head of the Medical School overseeing diverse education programmes and an extensive array of research activity.
Her own research is centred on exploring basic mechanisms underlying functional differences in immune function at birth and in early childhood through to translational studies around pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Cathy is internationally recognised for her expertise in the early life origins of immune mediated diseases and her work is funded by NERC, MRC, Wellcome Trust, MS Society UK and Welsh Government amongst others. Her main current research effort is investigating how the perinatal environment linked to maternal exposures to air pollution and heat affects the programming of fetal organs and the consequences of this for child health.
This includes leading a UK-wide consortium as part of the Clean Air Programme. Innovation activity includes novel diagnostics for adverse pregnancy and the development of blood handling devices.