Professor Paul Fowler

Biography

Following his BSc Hons and PhD in Zoology, Professor Fowler worked on ovarian hormones in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Aberdeen. In 2000, he moved to the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences and was its director for 6 years (2015-21). His work elucidates mechanisms regulating/dysregulating reproduction and development. He has over 170 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and co-authored numerous European Food Standards Agency opinions. Since 2000, his research focused principally on effects of environmental/lifestyle exposures, including maternal smoking, obesity, and medication use. This aims to understand disruption of fetal development and health, principally using normal first and second trimester human fetus. Since 2009 he has led/participated in 4 large EU research programmes studying endocrine disruption and received MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, charities and PARC (Partnership of the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals, 2022-2029) funding. In 2023 he was awarded the Anne McLaren Distinguished Scientist award by the Society for Reproduction & Fertility.

Prizes and Awards

FRSB, 2010

Research Overview

Since the breakthrough epidemiological studies of the 1980s it has been clear that adult human health is dependent upon fetal development and fetal programming (‘early life programming’). Fetal growth restriction, for example, can lead to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease in the adult. This fetal programming is also termed "Developmental Origins of Health and Disease" (DOHaD) or "Fetal Origins of Adult Disease. Dysfunctional changes in the fetus can arise through a range of mechanisms, such as:

• maternal cigarette smoking
• maternal obesity
• maternal deprivation
• maternal nutrition
• maternal environmental pollutant exposure (such as air pollution)
• maternal medication use

We are studying these factors primarily in the human itself, by studying fetuses aborted for non-medical reasons. This is supported by the SAFeR Study (Scottish Advanced Fetal Research study).

The health trajectory of an individual offspring is likely to depend upon a range of maternal and lifestyle factors, including the chemical burden carried at birth. Fetal pollutant exposure has clear adverse effects on development but we have very little knowledge about levels of fetal exposure to “real-life” complex pollutant cocktails and developmental consequences. This fundamental lack of knowledge is a major impasse to developing strategies for reducing fetal pollutant burdens and predicting likely health outcomes. Available data is limited, and often indirect (i.e. animal models or surrogates of exposure), but all studies suggest that fetal pollutant exposure affects lifelong health outcomes and, thereby, impacts on the general economy.

As well as laboratory-based studies of the human fetus my group has also become involved in epidemiological studies in the same field. Our intention with this move is to improve linkage between the individual fetus/mother (laboratory) and population-wide (epidemiology) analyses of maternal environment/lifestyle effects on the fetus and its future health.

Our aim is to understand how maternal factors disturb human fetal development, leading to offspring with greater risk of adverse health outcomes.

Our objective is to identify mechanisms linking these maternal factors with sub-optimal fetal development and lifelong health burdens.

Current Research

Current Team

• Dr Peng Liu (post-doc)
• Ms Frankie Alcock (Research technician)
• Cosupervised PhD students: Katharina Kusse (Prof Val Speirs 1°) & Francesca Moramarco (Prof Peter McCaffery 1°)

RECENT TEAM MEMBERS

• Dr Laetitia Lecante (post-doc)
• Dr Pan Filis (post-doc)
• Dr Natasha Walker (PhD funded Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity)
• Dr Chiara Talia (PhD funded by EU MSCA-ITN PROTECTED)
• Dr Aikaterini Zafeiri (EASTBIO PhD student)
• Dr Claire Walker (Research technician)

Recent Visiting Scientists

• Mr Ajay Yadav, 3 months secondment as part of PROTECTED MSCA-ITN, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
• Ms Laetitia Lecante (3 months visit, Universite de Rennes 1, Rennes, France, PhD student)
• Mr Glen Gauderat (3 months on Royal Society grant: Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France, PhD student)
• Ms Hanna Johansson (Technical University of Denmark, PhD student)

Current Project Highlight

Recent plenary and invited presentations

• Black carbon nanoparticles can locally alter human fetal airway epithelial transcriptomes. UKHSA Annual Outdoor and Indoor Air Pollution Research Review Meeting, Bristol, 26 November 2024.
• What happens in the womb doesn’t stay in the womb. 9th NHS Grampian Research Conference “Mind the Gap” and the NHS Research Scotland Reproductive Health & Childbirth Event. Aberdeen, UK, 04-05 October 2024.
• Proof of concept: associating the presence of nanoparticles with localised gene expression in the human fetal lung. 9th NHS Grampian Research Conference “Mind the Gap” and the NHS Research Scotland Reproductive Health & Childbirth Event. Aberdeen, UK, 04-05 October 2024.
• Chemical pollutants and the human fetus. UK-PARC Science Day, Birmingham, 21-22 May 2024.
• Maternal smoking: revisiting the estrogen hypothesis and effects on receptor activation. 10th Copenhagen Workshop on Endocrine Disruptors, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11-14 March 2024.
• Prenatal exposure to environmental pollution and long-term outcomes in children. 31stWorld Congress on Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility (COGI), Vienna, Austria, 23-25 November 2023.
• Selecting the right model for your research. SfE BES Conference 2023, Glasgow, 13-15 November 2023.
• Maternal exposure to air pollution nanoparticles and adverse birth outcomes. CHE (Collaborative on Health and the Environment) Webinar https://www.healthandenvironment.org/webinars/96654 19 January 2023.
• Laying the foundations for future life and reproduction. Distinguished Scientist (Anne McLaren) Award Lecture. Fertility 2023, Belfast, 10-13 January 2023.
• Toxicants and maternal lifestyle disturb human fetal developmental programming. Society for Reproductive Investigation Annual Conference, Fetal Physiology Satellite meeting, Boston, July 2021.
• Exposure to the complex mixture of environmental chemicals found in human biosolids. Virtual University of Michigan Symposium on Chemical Mixtures, 12 February 2021.
• Maternal lifestyle, endocrine disruption and the developing fetus. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 19 February 2020, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Preparing for a healthy life – maternal lifestyle and fetal programming. Toxalim, 12 October 2018, Toulouse, France.
• Effect of prenatal exposure to environmental toxins on female reproduction. Fertility 2018, 4-6 January 2018, Liverpool, UK.
• Evidence for EDC involvement in reproductive dysfunction in women. Invited seminar at PhD Course in Reproductive Toxicology, Centre for Reproductive Biology in Uppsala (CRU) and Swedish Toxicological Sciences Research Centre (SWETOX), 12-16 June 2016, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Real-world chemical mixtures disturb fetal endocrine systems and gonad development humans and animal models. Symposium: “Mixtures, medicines and diet, where now for endocrine disrupting compounds?” ECE2016: European Congress of Endocrinology, 28-31 May 2016, Munich, Germany.
• Effects of in-utero exposure to toxicants on the fetal gonad and liver. Invited seminar, BIOSIT, combined University of Rennes, CNRS & INSERM unit, 9 November 2015, Rennes, France.
• Sex, drugs, oestrogens and the human fetus. Invited public talk, Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society, 1 October 2015, Aberdeen, UK.
• New insights into human fetal development: endogenous oestrogens, maternal smoking and gene methylation. 8^th Copenhagen Workshop of Endocrine Disrupters, 27-30 April 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Environmental factors in sex differences and metabolism. ESE basic Endocrinology Course in reproductive Endocrinology, 18-20 February 2015, Edinburgh, UK.

Knowledge Exchange

Public Engagement

1. Maternal exposure to air pollution nanoparticles and adverse birth outcomes. CHE (Collaborative on Health and the Environment) Webinar https://www.healthandenvironment.org/webinars/96654 19 January 2023.
2. “The Truth About Fetal Tissue Research”, Nature 528, 2015.
3. “Mother’s Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Baby’s DNA”, Scientific American, April 2016.
4. “Science Unwrapped: Fertility”, BBC Radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04vvspr and Naked Scientists podcast “Is modern life affecting fertility?” https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-scientists/modern-life-reducing-our-fertility  21st March 2017.
5. “Move over testosterone, another hormone is also vital for making boys – and it doesn’t come from the testes” The Conversation 14/02/2019
6. PODCAST: Hormones: The Inside Story. Series 1: Episode 6 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hormones-the-inside-story/id1538409023?i=1000501691883 . Also see https://www.yourhormones.info/podcast, Society for Endocrinology.
7. Naked Scientists “Endocrine disruptors and fertility” BBC Radio interview & podcast, 26/02/2021 https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/endocrine-disruptors-and-fertility

Press Releases

• £6m study on impact of environment on immune system in unborn babies and young children
• Top award for Professor Fowler 
• 'Painkiller advice for pregnant women should always be followed' as use linked to newborn problems
• What makes a man? Testosterone only half the story
• Aberdeen scientists to pioneer safety tests for household chemicals harming female fertility
• Smoking in pregnancy linked to “worrying” thyroid changes in unborn baby
• Premature babies' low blood pressure puzzle explained
• Girls inherit smoking miscarriage risk
• Scientists find that smoking harms livers of unborn babies
• Chemicals in household products linked to £1bn in European women's health care costs
• Agricultural fertiliser could pose risk to human fertility, sheep study finds
• Smoking while pregnant affects the livers of boys and girdl differenty
• Gender divide for health risk to babies of smoking mothers: Sunday Herald Scotland
• Smoke gets in your genes: Further dangers of smoking while pregnant revealed by new study
• Smoking damage to foetus detected from 12 weeks: Sunday Herald Scotland
• Scientists to investigate impact of smoking and drinking on the developing liver
• Science Careers: adding sex- and gender- dimensions to your research
• Chemicals in environment 'damaging male fertility'
• Pregnancy smoking fertility link
• Smoking Moms Risk Daughters’ Fertility
• Increase in breast cancer linked to pollution levels
• Human sewage harms sheep foetuses
• Findings: Sex change mongooses

Recent Policy Contributions

• Cosignatory/editor of a Letter to UK Ministers from PFAS Experts on need for Regulation and over 150 smaller outlets. Has also been cited in a Private Members’ Bill in UK Parliament.
• Member, Endocrine Society: Endocrine Disrupting Compound Advisory Group, 2024-
• Provided written evidence to UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee -> Outdoor and indoor air quality targets. 
• Editor, PostNote 69, UK Parliament: Urban Outdoor Air Quality. January 2023.
• Cited in Written evidence from Asthma and Lung UK (PHS0399) HSCC Inquiry on Prevention in Health and Social Care. 

Collaborations

RECENT & CURRENT

• Prof Matej Orešič Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
• Prof Tuulia Hyötyläinen Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden 
• Prof Tim Nawrot Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium
• Prof Maarten Roeffaers Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• Prof Majorie Van Duursen Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-Life), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• Prof Terje Svingen National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
• Dr Séverine Mazuad-Guittot IRSET, Rennes, France
• Dr Frédéric Chalmel IRSET, Rennes, France
• Prof Bruno Le Bizec LABERCA, Nantes-Atantique National College of Veterinary Medicine, Food Science & Engineering (ONIRIS), Nantes, France
• Dr Jean-Philippe Antignac SARAF, Nantes-Atantique National College of Veterinary Medicine, Food Science & Engineering (ONIRIS), Nantes, France
• Dr Lisa Connolly, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UK
• Prof Colin Duncan MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Dr Mick Rae School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Prof Veronique Gayrard TOXALIM, Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France
• Dr David Hay Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Prof John Iredale MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Prof Peter O'Shaughnessy Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland

also partners in the following EU projects:

INITIALISE

FREIA

PARC

PROTECTED

Funding and Grants

Career total = £28 million

major grants:

2007-10      Wellcome Trust (080388) Effect of in-utero exposure to environmental chemicals via maternal pasture ingestion on fetal development. £426k [PI: collaboration with Macaulay, Edinburgh, Glasgow & INRA]

2008-12      European Commission FP7 (212855) Reproductive effects of environmental chemicals in females (REEF). £2,646k. (PI: collaboration with Macaulay, Edinburgh, INRA, Nottingham, Martin-Luther, Milan]

2009-11      Chief Scientist Office (CZB/4/742) Bioincubator system to model toxic effects on the human fetal testis. £62k [PI]

2014-17      MRC (L010011/1) The human fetal liver: development and response to maternal drug use. £589k [PI: collaboration with Glasgow, Edinburgh]

2014-18      MRC DTP (K501335/1) Development of the human fetal adrenal gland and effects of maternal smoking. £63k [CoI: Bellingham, Glasgow is PI]

2016-19      Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity (YRSS/PHD/2016/05) Maternal smoking, drinking and deprivation: when and how of placental damage. £60k [PI: collaboration with Glasgow]

2017-21      European Commission H2020 MSCA-ITN (722634) PROTECTion against Endocrine Disruptors; detection, mixtures, health effects, risk assessment and communication (PROTECTED). £3,152k [CoI: Connolly Queen’s Belfast is PI]

2017-20      MRC (L011535/1) Sex-specific disease aetiology from developmental steroid insults: mechanistic understanding and biomarker development towards disease prevention. £637k [CoI: Rae, Edinburgh is PI]

2017-21      BBSRC EASTBIO DTP Mechanisms via which the human fetus is at risk from over-the-counter analgesics. £97k [PI: collaboration with Edinburgh]

2018-21      Arthritis Research UK (21800) Unlocking the joint morphogenetic code in mesenchymal stem cells from human synovium. £328k [CoI: De Bari is PI]

2019-24      European Commission H2020 (825100) Female Reproductive toxicity of Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs): a human evidence-based screening and Identification Approach (FREIA). £5,217k [CoI: van Duursen, VU Amsterdam, is PI]

2022-25     Cunningham Trust (PhD-CT-21-18) Discovery of retinoic acid receptor control of stress granules as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases. £97k [CoI: Mccaffery, Aberdeen, is PI]

2022-25     BCUK  (2122029) Evaluating the effects of BPA on breast cancer development. £99k [CoI: Speirs, Aberdeen, is PI]

2022-25     MRC (MR/W015439/1) Towards a novel treatment targeting obesity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. £380k [CoI: Duncan, Edinburgh, is PI]

2022-29     European Commission, Horizon Europe (10045444) Partnership for the assessment of risks from chemicals (PARC). €400 million cofund [CoI: ANSES+199 other institutions/agencies]

2023-27    European Commission, Horizon Europe (101094099) Inflammation in human early life: targeting impacts on life-course health (INITIALISE). £6,209k [CoI: Oresic, University of Turku is PI]

Teaching Responsibilities

Honours and MSc students undertake research projects in my lab.

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

I usually have 9 tutees at any one time.