Dr Marine Barnabe
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Department: Comparative Biomedical Sciences - Main
Campus: Camden
Postdoctoral researcher interested in working on laminitis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH) in horses and donkeys. Passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of equids, and particularly geriatric animals.
Marine completed a BSc at the University of Cape Town with a major in Biochemistry. This was followed by an Honours degree in Clinical Pharmacology focusing on antimalarial drug development, and an MSc in Systems Biology investigating the immune responses of patients co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV using mass-spectrometry-based proteomics.
After spending some time working as a technician in in vitro drug testing at H3D, Africa's first drug discovery and development centre, Marine moved to the UK to start a PhD at the Royal Veterinary College. This project focused on the role of adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells with multiple beneficial roles in human and animal health, in pasture-associated laminitis.
Upon completion of her PhD in 2023, Marine took up a Scientific Officer role in the RSPCA's Animals in Science department where she worked on promoting the ethical review of animal use in research by producing resources and organising training events for members of Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Bodies, as well as encouraging researchers to engage with the 3Rs in animal research (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement).
She returned to the RVC in September 2024 to begin a 2-year postdoctoral research project under the guidance of Prof. Jonathan Elliott, where she is investigating the potential protective role of adiponectin in equine systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).
Research topics
Pasture-associated (endocrinopathic) laminitis
Marine is interested in understanding how insulin dysregulation, low adiponectin, and obesity interact to cause laminitis in horses and ponies. Her PhD explored the relationship between insulin and adiponectin in healthy ponies, and how ponies’ weight and metabolism changed when they are turned out to pasture over the spring and summer.
Barnabé, M. A., Elliott, J., Harris, P. A., & Menzies-Gow, N. J. (2025). Effects of pasture consumption and obesity on insulin dysregulation and adiponectin concentrations in UK native-breed ponies. Equine Veterinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/EVJ.14507
Barnabé, M. A., Elliott, J., Harris, P. A., & Menzies-Gow, N. J. (2023a). Insulin, but not adiponectin, is detectable in equine saliva using an automated, commercial assay. Equine Veterinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14019
Barnabé, M. A., Elliott, J., Harris, P. A., & Menzies-Gow, N. J. (2023b). Relationships between total adiponectin concentrations and obesity in native-breed ponies in England. Equine Veterinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14013
Barnabé, M. A., Elliott, J., Harris, P. A., & Menzies-Gow, N. J. (2023c). Short-term induced hyperinsulinaemia and dexamethasone challenge do not affect circulating total adiponectin concentrations in insulin-sensitive ponies. Equine Veterinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14012
Barnabé, M. A., Gordon, R., Ramjee, G., Loots, G., & Blackburn, J. M. (2020). National expenditure on health research in South Africa: How has the landscape changed in the past decade? South African Medical Journal, 110(4), 274–283. https://doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.2020.V110I4.14349
Mueller, R., Reddy, V., Nchinda, A. T., Mebrahtu, F., Taylor, D., Lawrence, N., Tanner, L., Barnabe, M., Eyermann, C. J., Zou, B., Kondreddi, R. R., Lakshminarayana, S. B., Rottmann, M., Street, L. J., & Chibale, K. (2020). Lerisetron Analogues with Antimalarial Properties: Synthesis, Structure–Activity Relationship Studies, and Biological Assessment. ACS Omega, 5(12), 6967–6982. https://doi.org/10.1021/ACSOMEGA.0C00327
Marine is involved in supervising laboratory-based BSc and MSci projects, and is co-supervising an MRes student (2025/26) with Prof. Nicola Menzies-Gow.
Marine hosted a student from June to August 2025 as part of the London Interdisciplinary Biosciences Consortium (LIDo) Research Experience Placement outreach programe. The student completed a project entitled "Cells under stress: investigating apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine signalling in equine lamellar cells undergoing endoplasmic reticulum stress".
Marine has been an active member of the RVC Animal Welfare Ethical Review Body (AWERB) since 2021.