Mark Vickers

Senior Research Fellow
BSc, MSc(Hons), PhD

Contact details

Phone: +64 9 923 6687
Email: m.vickers@auckland.ac.nz

Research interests

• Developmental origins of health and disease
• Maternal and infant nutrition, obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes

My primary interest is in the developmental origins of health and disease with a particular focus on the association between poor maternal nutrition and the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes in offspring. We also have an interest in therapies aimed at reversing the metabolic disturbances that result from a suboptimal early life environment.

Developmental programming, Stage 3 Physiology
MedSci courses 304, 729, 734

University of Cambridge
University of Southampton
Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and National University of Singapore
University of Western Australia
McGill University, Montreal, Canada

1. Sloboda DM, Howie GC, Pleasants T, Gluckman PD, Vickers MH. Pre- and post-natal nutritional histories influence reproductive maturation and ovarian function in the rat. PLoS One; 2009 Aug 25; 4(8):e6744

2. Howie GM, Sloboda DM, Kamal T, Vickers MH. Maternal nutritional history predicts obesity in adult offspring independent of postnatal diet. J Physiol. 587(Pt 4):905-15., 2009

3. Vickers MH, Gluckman PD, Coveny AH, Hofman PL, Cutfield WS, Gertler A, Breier BH, Harris M. The effect of neonatal leptin treatment on postnatal weight gain in male rats is dependent on maternal nutritional status during pregnancy. Endocrinology. 2008;149(4):1906-13.

4. Gluckman PD, Lillycrop KA, Vickers MH, Pleasants AB, Phillips ES, Beedle AS, Burdge GC, Hanson MA. Metabolic plasticity during mammalian development is directionally dependent on early nutritional status. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 104 (31), 12796-12800, 2007.

5. Vickers MH, Gluckman PD, Coveny AH, Hofman PL, Cutfield WS, Gertler A, Breier BH, Harris M. Neonatal Leptin Treatment Reverses Developmental Programming. Endocrinology. 146(10):4211-4216, 2005.

Health Research Council of NZ (HRC)
National Research Centre for Growth and Development
Marsden Fund
Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST)

“Few other aspects of nutrient supply and metabolism are of greater biological importance than the feeding of mothers during pregnancy and lactation. Our research aims to develop platforms to examine nutrition during these critical windows and optimize the health of mothers and offspring to reduce risk of adult diseases such as obesity and diabetes in adult life.”