Guest Editors
Clint Gray
Gillies McIndoe Research Institute, New Zealand
Dr. Gray is a physiologist with training in developmental and molecular biology, nutritional biochemistry, and surgery and is interested in developing in vivo protocols to improve translational physiology research. He is the Director of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute, Wellington, New Zealand and has adjunct positions with Otago, Victoria, and Massey Universities.Dr. Gray has extensive research experience in maternal health and fetal cardiovascular and liver development. He has over 50 research and reviews publications on a wide range of topics, including maternal diet, placental function, preterm birth, predisposition to later-life disease, cancer biology and the use of organoid models.
Ryan Sixtus
Cardiff University
Dr. Ryan Sixtus is an integrated and translational physiologist interested in the developmental origins of health and disease. He received his PhD in pediatric medicine from the University of Otago, Wellington, in 2022. His dissertation focussed on the long-term cardiovascular consequences of preterm birth. Dr. Sixtus is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate working in the lab of Prof. Rosalind John at Cardiff University. His current project investigates imprinted genes' role as master regulators of placental hormones.
Collection Overview
Events that impact early-life development can have profound and enduring effects on lifelong health trajectories. Conditions such as preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, fetal/placental hypoxia, and maternal factors like diet, stress, and gestational diabetes have been extensively shown to increase the lifelong risk of diseases across various organ systems. These diseases encompass but are not limited to cardiovascular, metabolic/endocrine, respiratory, renal, and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Animal models have proven essential for understanding perinatal care (e.g., glucocorticoids in fetal sheep; Liggins & Howie, 1972) and continue to play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the unique preterm population.
The objective of this Methods Collection is to present the currently employed methodologies in animal models, both large and small, for investigating the short- and long-term consequences of developmental programming, maternal factors, preterm birth, and associated pregnancy and perinatal complications.
