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The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN) is represented by the
Endocrinology Unit of the Molecular Medicine Centre and
the Centre for Reproductive Biology
The mission of the Endocrinology Unit, housed within the newly built Molecular Medicine Centre, is to understand the role
of glucocorticoids, their receptors and their tissue-specific metabolism in physiology and pathogenesis. A key theme examines glucocorticoids in early life programming of adult disease. Members of the
Unit originally proposed the hypothesis that the link between low birth weight and adult cardiovascular and metabolic disorders is due to excessive fetal exposure to glucocorticoids, either synthetic
steroids such as dexamethasone which freely pass the placenta or endogenous cortisol, via insufficiency of the natural feto-placental-glucocorticoid barrier, the enzyme 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase
type 2 (Lancet: 341:339; Lancet 341:555). The Unit has extensive links with groups around the world involved in this biology and has a leading position in understanding the fundamental molecular
mechanisms that underpin the effects of perinatal glucocorticoid exposure to programme adult physiology, proposing, for example, the key role of tissue-specific promoters of the glucocorticoid receptor
gene (J Clin Invest 101:2174; Mol Endocrinol 14:506). The Endocrinology Unit comprises ~50 scientists, technicians and students working in a co-ordinated fashion from basic molecular biology
through cell biology, animal studies, transgenesis and into clinical investigation. The Unit is part of a Centre of 200 staff graded at the top level in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise of
the United Kingdom Higher Education Funding Council (5-Star).
The Centre for Reproductive Biology, which contains the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit and
the University division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, is a leading European centre of academic excellence with the fundamental mission in the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and understanding
of reproductive biology. Specifically, the centre encompasses clinical and basic research in reproductive endocrinology, foetal and utero-placental physiology, genetics and developmental biology,
gynaecological oncology. The priorities of the Centre for Reproductive Biology research revolve around the biochemical and molecular studies of the ovary and testes, establishing the pathways via which
steroid hormones shape the formation, compartmentalisation and functional differentiation of the reproductive system and its associated secondary sex organs. In both genders, our priority is to identify
cell-specific primary response genes and the mechanisms which contribute to differential regulation of their expression. Overall, determining how the development of the reproductive system is regulated
is the foremost priority of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine. In this respect, the centre is ideally suited to investigate the effects of glucocorticoids upon the development of the reproductive
system in marmoset monkeys and the effects that foetal steroid hormone over-exposure may have in later life.
Contribution to the project:
investigation of target tissues of the glucocorticoid receptor system,
-11ß-HSDs and key target genes,
-PEPCK,
-enzymes of lipid synthesis and of beta-oxidation,
-visceral adipose targets, analysis of male and female reproductive systems to examine effects of glucocorticoids on genes that regulate ovarian and testicular
function, access to the EUROSTERONE DNA microarray.
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For the research group:
Prof. Jonathan R Seckl, FRCPE, FMedSci, FRSE
University of Edinburgh
Molecular Medicine Centre
Western General Hospital
Edinburgh EH4 2XU
UK
Phone: +44 131 651 1035 or 1037, Fax: +44 131 651 1085
e-mail: j.seckl@ed.ac.uk
For the Centre for Reproduction Biology:
Stephen G. Hillier PhD, DSc, FRCPath
Univestiy of Edinburgh
Centre for Reproductive Biology
Chancellor’s Building
49 Little France Crecent
Edinburgh EH16 4SB
UK
e-mail: s.hillier@ed.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk
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