Current Position

Professor of Reproductive biology

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Telephone +44 (0)1223 336875

Email dscj1@cam.ac.uk

 

Current Research Interests

• Placental Development
• Mouse Models of Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer
• The role of Paroxonase 3 (PON3) in Development

 

Brief CV

• Professor of Reproductive Biology (since 2012), University of Cambridge
• University Reader (2004), University of Cambridge
• University Lecturer (1997), University of Cambridge
• BBSRC Senior Research Associate (1994), University of Cambridge
• Research Associate, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Cambridge
• MRC Research Fellow in the MRC Molecular Genetics Unit, Cambridge (Working with Dr Sydney Brenner)
• PhD (1990), University of Cambridge (Research carried out at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge)
• BSc in Microbiology (1983),University of London

 

I am a member of the Editorial boards of the Journals “Placenta” and “Reproduction”.

Elected as the European Placenta Group (EPG) representative to the International Federation of Placenta Associations (IFPA) Executive committee.

 

Commercial Experience

I was Co-founder of GeneNetworks Inc (www.gene-networks.com), a biotec company that successfully floated on Tokyo Stock Exchange in August 2007. It currently employs approximately 80 people. I am also a co-founder of Metris Therapeutics Ltd a biotec company focused on women’s health.

I have filed several other patents (10) that the University is exploiting (licence income in excess of £200,000 to date).

I have worked as a consultant for Applied Biosystems Inc, United States Biochemical Corp (now part of Amersham Biosciences) and Hybaid. I have previously acted as an expert witness in patent prosecutions in the USA and acted as an Expert Advisor on a UK case.

 

Recent Key Publications

Charnock-Jones DS (2015). Placental hypoxia, endoplasmic reticulum stress and maternal endothelial sensitisation by sFLT1 in pre-eclampsia. J. Reprod. Immunol. pii: S0165-0378(15)30006-1. doi:10.1016/j-jri.2015.07.004.

Cindrova-Davies T, van Patot MT, Gardner L, Jaunlaux E, Burton GJ, and Charnock-Jones DS (2015). Energy status and HIF signalling in chorionic villi show no evidence of hypoxic stress during human early placental development. Mol. Hum. Reprod. 21(3): 296-308.

Yung HW, Atkinson D, Campion-Smith T, Olovsson M, Charnock-Jones DS, and Burton GJ (2014). Differrential activation of placental unfolded protein response pathways implies heterogeneity in causation of early- and late-onset pre-eclampsia. J. Pathology. 234(2): 262-276. DOI:10.1002/path.4394.

Yung HW, Colleoni F, Atkinson D, Cook E, Murray A, Burton G, and Charnock-Jones DS (2014). Influence of speed of sample processing on placental energetics and signalling pathways: implications for tissue collection. Placenta. 35(2): 103-108.

Staff AC, Benton SJ, von Dadelszen P, Roberts JM, Taylor RN, Powers RW, Charnock-Jones DS, and Redman CWG (2013). Redefining preeclampsia using placenta-derived biomarkers. Hypertension. 61(5): 932-942

Yung HW, Hemberger M, Watson ED, Senner CE, Jones CP, Kaufman RJ, Charnock-Jones DS, and Burton GJ (2012). Endoplasmic reticulum stress disrupts placental morphogenesis: implications for human intrauterine growth restriction. J. Path. 228: 554-564. DOI:10.1002/path.4068

Tattersall M, Cordeaux Y, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GCS (2012). Prolonged stretch of human myometrium increases gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) expression and GRP receptor antagonists inhibit contractility. J. Physiol. 590(Pt 9): 2081-2093. DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.228239

Gounaris I, Charnock-Jones DS, and Brenton JD (2011). Ovarian clear cell carcinoma – Bad endometriosis or bad endometrium? J. Pathol. 225(2): 157-160. DOI: 10.1002/path.2970

Cindrova-Davies T, Sanders DA, Burton GJ, and Charnock-Jones DS (2011). Soluble FLT1 sensitizes endotehlial cells to inflammatory cytokines by antagonizing VEGF receptor-mediated signalling. Cardiovascular Research. 89: 671-679

Hurley D, Araki H, Tamada Y, Dunmore BJ, Sanders DA, Humphreys S, Affara M, Imoto S, Yasuda K, Tomiyasu Y, Tashiro K, Savoie C, Cho V, Smith S, Kuhara S, Miyano S, Charnock-Jones DS, Crampin EJ, and Print CG (2011). Gene network inference and visualization tools for biologists: application to new human transcriptome datasets. Nucleic Acids Research. DOI:10.1093/nar/gkr902

Kempster SL, Belteki G, Licence D, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GC (2011). Disruption of paraoxinase 3 impairs proliferation and antioxidant defenses in human A549 cells and causes embryonic lethality in mice. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrin Metab. DOI:10.1152/ajpendo.00357.2011

Cheng C-W, Licence D, Cook E, Luo F, Arends MJ, Smith SK, Print CG, and  Charnock-Jones DS (2011). Activation of mutated K-ras in donor endometrial epithelium and stroma promotes lesion growth in an intact immunocompetent murine model of endometriosis. J. Pathol. 224(2): 261-269

Kempster SL, Belteki G, Forhead AJ, Fowden AL, Catalano RD, Lam BY, McFarlane I, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GC (2011). Developmental control of the Nlrp6 inflammasome and a substrate, IL-18, in mammalian intestine. Am. J. Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 300: G253-G263

Yung HW, Charnock-Jones DS, and Burton GJ (2011). Regulation of AKT Phosphorylation at Ser473 and Thr308 by Endoplasmic Reticulum stress modulates substrate specificity in a severity dependent manner. PLoS One. 6: e17894

Affara M, Dunmore BJ, Sanders DA, Johnson N, Print CG, and Charnock-Jones DS (2011). MMP1 bimodal expression and differential response response to inflammatory mediatore is linked to promoter polymorphisms. BMC Genomics. 12: 43

Yamaji M, Bielby H, Licence D, Cheng CW, Cook E, Smith SK, Print CG, and Charnock-Jones DS (2010). VEGF-A loss in the haematopoietic and endothelial lineages exacerbates age-induced renal changes. Microvasc Res. 80: 372-383

Mokhtar NM, Cheng CW, Cook E, Bielby H, Smith SK, and Charnock-Jones DS (2010). Progestin regulates chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 14 transcript level in human endometrium. Mol. Hum. Reprod. 16: 170-177

Belteki G, Kempster SL, Forhead AJ, Giussani DA, Fowden AL, Curley A, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GC (2010). Paraoxonase-3, a putative circulating antioxidant, is systemically up-regulated in late gestation in the fetal rat, sheep, and human. J. Clin Endocrinol. Metab. 95: 3798-3805

Yung HW, Korolchuk S, Tolkovsky AM, Charnock-Jones DS, and Burton GJ (2007). Endoplasmic reticulum stress exacerbates ischemia-reperfusion-induced apoptosis through attenuation of Akt protein synthesis in human choriocarcinoma cells. FASEB J. 21: 872-884

Cindrova-Davies T, Yung HW, Johns J, Spasic-Boskovic O, Korolchuk S, Jauniaux E, Burton GJ, and Charnock-Jones DS (2007). Oxidative stress, gene expression and protein changes induced in th ehuman placenta during labor. Am J. Pathol. 171: 1168-1178

Cindrova-Davies T, Spasic-Boskovic O, Jauniaux E, Charnock-Jones DS, and Burton GJ (2007). Nuclear factor-kappa B, p38, and stress-activated protein kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways regulate proinflammatory cytokines and apoptosis in human placental explants in response to oxidative stress: effects of antioxidant vitamins. Am J Pathol. 170(5): 1511-1520

Cheng CW, Bielby H, Licence D, Smith SK, Print CG, and Charnock-Jones DS (2007). Quantitative cellular and molecular analysis of the effect of progesterone withdrawal in a murine model of decidualization. Biol Reprod. 76(5): 871-883