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Dr Samantha Gardner

  • Position: Research Fellow
  • Areas of expertise: Reproductive biology; Uterine biology; Transcriptomics; Proteomics; Comparative molecular physiology; 3D models; Heat Stress
  • Email: S.Gardner@leeds.ac.uk
  • Website: ORCID

Profile

My PhD was completed in 2008 at the Medical Research Council Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Professor Robert Millar and Dr Adam Pawson. During that time, I was working on potential cross talk between Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone and Wnt/β-catenin Signalling Pathways. On completion of my PhD, I moved to Oregon Health and Sciences University for a Research Scientist position with Professor Peter Rotwein. Our laboratory was interested in Insulin-like Growth Factors and my projects were specifically focused on skeletal muscle differentiation. In 2014, I returned to the UK to work with Professor Gary Williamson at the University of Leeds on an European Advanced Research Grant funded project investigating the role of polyphenols in health and energy metabolism. Currently I am a Research Fellow funded under a Wellcome Trust Grant to Professor Niamh Forde in the Discovery and Translational Science Department.

Research interests

One of the most pressing issues facing the planet today is climate change. The importance of investigating the impact a warming environment will have on reproduction cannot be underestimated. These effects are multifaceted with potentially direct effects on human and animal germ cell production, embryo viability and pregnancy success. Furthermore, this may lead to failure of the offspring to thrive and reproduce, with knock-on effects for livestock production for food. Developing physiologically relevant tools to study the impact of changing environmental stresses is critical to understanding these fundamental reproductive processes. The highly dynamic endometrial tissue sits at the interface between the maternal and foetal systems and may have a key role in mediating a response to heat stress. Our studies involve optimising the in vitro cell culture systems and utilising them for elucidating important signalling pathways in response to heat stress.

Qualifications

  • PhD
  • BSc Biological Science with Honours in Pharmacology

Professional memberships

  • Society for the Study of Reproduction
  • Society for Reproduction and Fertility

Research groups and institutes

  • Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine