Biography:
Gabrielle graduated from the University of Durham in 2019 receiving a BSc in Biomedical Sciences. During her undergraduate studies, she undertook two summer studentship placements at Newcastle University which aimed to improve mitochondrial donation, a fertility treatment, and explored the role of cyclins in miscarriage, respectively. These roles influenced her passion for reproductive biology and epigenetics and she aims to combine these fields in her studies to explore the maternal influence on foetal health during pregnancy.
Gabrielle is a PhD student in the Van de Pette lab exploring the impact of maternal medication use during pregnancy on the developing foetal epigenome.
Research Interests:
Medication use during pregnancy is tightly regulated to prevent developmental defects in the offspring, however, the effect of commonly prescribed drugs on the developing epigenome is yet to be determined. Methotrexate (MTX) is a commonly prescribed drug that has reported effects of hypomethylation of the genome. Traditional studies exploring MTX exposure during pregnancy have focused on the use of high dose MTX, as used in cancer treatment, and these doses have been defined as teratogenic. However, MTX is increasingly being prescribed at significantly lower doses to treat numerous chronic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. Data surrounding the safety of use of low dose MTX in pregnancy and the impact of chronic MTX exposure to the germline is almost non-existent. My project will explore the impact of these lower dose regimens which are commonly prescribed in women of childbearing age to help determine whether MTX can be safely administered during pregnancy.
