Laura Dearden

Dr Laura Dearden is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at the Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, specializing in developmental programming of metabolic disorders. Her research focuses on maternal obesity's molecular mechanisms affecting fetal hypothalamic development and long-term obesity risk.

• Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship recipient
• 2023 Rank Prize New Lecturer Award
• Sir Henry Wellcome Post-doctoral Fellowship (2015-2020)

She investigates insulin and miRNA roles in intergenerational obesity transmission using mouse models. Key areas include:

• Hypothalamic development in metabolic regulation
• Epigenetic modifications from maternal diets
• Sex-specific metabolic programming
• Translational interventions for maternal-fetal health

Her recent publications (2023-2025) emphasize miRNA expression patterns, DNA methylation dynamics, and insulin signaling in fetal programming of cardiometabolic disorders. She collaborates with Prof Susan Ozanne and NIH partners.

• Senior research technician: Wai Ping Wong
• Postdoctoral researchers: Rosanne Chong, Matt Higgins
• NIH Oxcam PhD student: Keyshla Negron