Stephanie Bayol
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Stéphanie is a Research Associate. Her research interests include the influence of maternal malnutrition during pregnancy and lactation on the development and growth of offspring with a particular focus on obesity and related disorders.
Biography
Stéphanie comes from the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France where her ancestors have been producing wine, livestock, olive oil, silk and other agricultural products for many generations. This background most probably nurtured her fascination with living organisms and her dream of becoming a Research Scientist. She studied Biomedical Sciences and Cell Biology at the Universities of Montpellier and Toulouse. As an undergraduate, she also studied Biochemistry in the UK as part of a European exchange program (ERASMUS) between the University of Montpellier and the University of Central Lancashire. The experience made her realise that Science was an international activity and that a good knowledge of the English language was essential to communicate Science effectively. As a result, Stéphanie decided to carry out her PhD studies in the UK rather than in France. She investigated the role of innervation and electrical stimulation on skeletal muscle phenotype under the supervision of Professor Carol Brownson (University of North London) and Dr Paul Loughna (Royal Veterinary College).
After a brief post-doctoral position in Professor Simon Hughes' group at King’s College London, where she examined the influence of sonic hedgehog on muscle development and the role of MyoD in denervation, Stéphanie joined Professor Neil Stickland's laboratory at the RVC to carry out exciting research on the topic of Early Life Programming.
Research
Since joining the RVC, Stéphanie's research interests have been predominantly focussed on the influence of maternal malnutrition on offspring development and growth. With Neil Stickland and funding from the Wellcome Trust, she has developed an animal model (rat) known as the “Junk Food” diet model to determine the specific influence of a Western diet rich in fat, sugar and salt during pregnancy and lactation on progeny. She has shown that such a maternal diet influenced appetite and stimulated preference for sweet and sugary foods leading to early obesity onset in offspring. She has also shown that the maternal “Junk Food” diet impaired the development and function of skeletal muscle and promoted adiposity as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in offspring. These findings are relevant not only to pet but also to human obesity and are supported by several human epidemiological studies.
Stéphanie’s interest in Early Life Programming research also extends to other species. She is currently working on a BBSRC funded project aiming at promoting leg musculoskeletal development through manipulation of egg incubation conditions. This is a great model to study how genome/environment interactions promote phenotypic evolution across generations. Furthermore, this project is relevant to growing food security concerns.
Stéphanie has been invited to speak at international conferences including the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Symposium on “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” Greifswald, Germany. She regularly reviews articles for the journals Obesity, International Journal of Obesity, Journal of Physiology, American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Neuropeptides, Journal of Neuroendocrinology, Pediatric Research, Reproduction Fertility and Development, BMC Genomics and others. She has reviewed research grants for Diabetes UK, the French National Research Agency and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.
Stéphanie is currently serving on the Review Editorial Board of Frontiers in Epigenomics http://www.frontiersin.org/genetics
Teaching
Stéphanie contributes to the teaching of the BVetMed and BSc Bioveterinary Science courses. She also designs undergraduate projects and supervises research students.
Selected Publications
Al-Musawi SL, Stickland NC, Bayol SA. In ovo temperature manipulation differentially influences limb musculoskeletal development in two lines of chick embryos selected for divergent growth rates. J Exp Biol. 2012 In Press
Al-Musawi SL, Lock F, Simbi BH, Bayol SA, Stickland NC.Muscle specific differences in the regulation of myogenic differentiation in chickens genetically selected for divergent growth rates. Differentiation. 2011 Oct;82(3):127-35. PMID:21723031
Bayol SA & Stickland NC. Maternal “junk food” diet and post-natal development. Nova Acta Leopoldina. 2011; 382:21-26.
Bayol SA, Simbi BH, Fowkes RC, Stickland NC. A Maternal "Junk Food" Diet in Pregnancy and Lactation Promotes Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rat Offspring. Endocrinology. 2010 Apr;151(4):1451-61. PMID:20207831
Karunaratne JF, Bayol SA, Ashton C, Simbi B, Stickland NC. Potential molecular mechanisms for the prenatal compartmentalization of muscle and connective tissue in pigs. Differentiation. 2009 Mar;77(3):290-7. PMID:19272527
Bayol SA, Macharia R, Farrington SJ, Simbi BH, Stickland NC. Evidence that a maternal "junk food" diet during pregnancy and lactation can reduce muscle force in offspring. Eur J Nutr. 2009 Feb;48(1):62-5. PMID:19099241
Bayol SA, Simbi BH, Bertrand JA, Stickland NC. Offspring from mothers fed a 'junk food' diet in pregnancy and lactation exhibit exacerbated adiposity that is more pronounced in females. J Physiol. 2008 Jul 1;586(13):3219-30. PMID:18467362
Chargé SB, Brack AS, Bayol SA, Hughes SM. MyoD- and nerve-dependent maintenance of MyoD expression in mature muscle fibres acts through the DRR/PRR element. BMC Dev Biol. 2008 Jan 23;8:5. PMID: 18215268
Bayol S, Farrington S, Stickland N. A maternal "junk food" diet in pregnancy and lactation promotes an exacerbated taste for "junk food" and a greater propensity for obesity in rat offspring. Br J Nutr. 2007 98(4):843-51. PMID:17697422
Albokhadaim I, Hammond CL, Ashton C, Simbi BH, Bayol S, Farrington S, Stickland N. Larval programming of post-hatch muscle growth and activity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). J Exp Biol. 2007 May;210(Pt 10):1735-41. PMID:17488936
McEntee GM, Simbi BH, Bayol SA, Macharia RG, Stickland NC. Neuromuscular stimulation causes muscle phenotype-dependent changes in the expression of the IGFs and their binding proteins in developing slow and fast muscle of chick embryos. Dev Dyn. 2006 235(7):1777-84. PMID:16598714
Bayol SA, Simbi BH, Stickland NC. A maternal cafeteria diet during gestation and lactation promotes adiposity and impairs skeletal muscle development and metabolism in rat offspring at weaning. J Physiol. 2005 Sep 15;567(Pt 3):951-61. PMID: 16020464
Bayol S, Brownson C, Loughna PT. Electrical stimulation modulates IGF binding protein transcript levels in C2C12 myotubes. Cell Biochem Funct. 2005 Sep-Oct;23(5):361-5. PMID:15584093
Stickland N, Bayol S, Ashton C and Rehfeldt C. Muscle Development of Livestock Animals: Physiology, Genetics and Meat Quality. Chapter 3 Manipulation of muscle fibre number during prenatal development (CABI Publishing, CAB international, Tepas Editor, Release date August 2004) ISBN: 0851998119. CABI
Bayol S, Jones D, Goldspink G, Stickland NC. The influence of undernutrition during gestation on skeletal muscle cellularity and on the expression of genes that control muscle growth. Br J Nutr. 2004 Mar;91(3):331-9. PMID:15005818
Bayol S, Loughna PT, Brownson C. Phenotypic expression of IGF binding protein transcripts in muscle, in vitro and in vivo. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2000 Jun 24;273(1):282-6. PMID:10873599
Loughna PT, Mason P, Bayol S, Brownson C. The LIM-domain protein FHL1 (SLIM 1) exhibits functional regulation in skeletal muscle. Mol Cell Biol Res Commun. 2000 Mar;3(3):136-40. PMID:10860860
Mason P, Bayol S, Loughna PT. The novel sarcomeric protein telethonin exhibits developmental and functional regulation. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1999 Apr 21;257(3):699-703. PMID:10208846
Outreach Activities
Stéphanie is committed to communicating science to the broader public. She has collaborated with press officers at the RVC and the Wellcome Trust to issue press releases. As a result, her studies have been featured in mainstream media. Stéphanie has given interviews to journalists and writers for books, newspaper and magazine articles as well as for radio and TV programmes. More recently, her work was featured in the book “Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives” by author Annie Murphy Paul which made the cover of Time Magazine. She has also taken part in YouTube movies produced by the Wellcome Trust as well as The Saturday School public engagement programme organised by Jon Parry at the RVC.
Stéphanie is a member of the Association for the Study of Obesity and the Nutrition Society which bring together scientists, politicians and policy makers. Through these memberships, she has helped raise political awareness about the importance of healthy eating habits from conception during All Parliamentary Groups on Obesity and the Set for Britain programme at the House of Commons, Westminster.
Summary of Media Coverage & Public Engagement
BBC
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7481026.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6940852.stm
ITV
http://www.itv.com/Lifestyle/BritainsBiggestBabies/default.html
NHS (government)
www.nhs.uk/news/2007/August/Pages/Junkfoodinpregnancy.aspx
The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/15/sciencenews.foodanddrink
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/01/health.children
The Times
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article2260287.ece
Book
"Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives" by Annie Murphy Paul
http://www.anniemurphypaul.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMtaD77Ps18
The Wellcome Trust
www.youtube.com/watch Part 1
www.youtube.com/watch Part 2
www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2010/Features/WTX059952.htm Part 3
AgroParisTech Podcast
http://podcast.agroparistech.fr/EnglishVersion
http://podcast.agroparistech.fr/FrenchVersion