A young British scientist has won a top new award for outstanding new research into obesity.

Dr Claire Stocker, aged 31, a research fellow at the Clore Laboratory, University of Buckingham, UK, won the New Investigator Award prize during the 9^th International Congress on Obesity held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

After receiving her PhD at Imperial College School of Medicine, London in 1999, she joined Prof Mike Cawthorne in initiating studies of in utero growth restriction and the metabolic syndrome. Her current research interest has focused on the effect of maternally administered leptin in preventing the diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance observed in offspring of protein-restricted dams. Her current work involves the identification of the mechanisms involved in the effect of leptin.

She said: “When I joined Mike Cawthorne's group in Buckingham my principal interest was in the development of the fetal endocrine pancreas, particularly the proliferative capacity of leptin on fetal islets.We study the in utero growth restricted rat model, a feature of which is the reduced pancreatic beta cell mass in the offspring and a contibutor to the development of the metabolic syndrome in adulthood. 

“My fascination with obesity came quite coincidently when we observed that following nutritional and hormonal manipulation of the dams the resulting offspring were resistant to the central obesity and insulin resistance associated with high fat feeding,” she added.

Her long term ambitions are to “dissect the underlying mechanisms of this effect, particularly in light of the future health implications.” She hopes to move into pharmaceutical research.

Claire said that when she is not working in the lab, she is takes part in horse-riding competitions as well as being an enthusiastic runner and is planning to complete the Great North Run in Tyneside in under 2 hours.

Prof Mike Cawthorne said he was proud of the work Claire had undertaken without financial support and hoped that the research would attract funding now that its excellence had been recognized.

The award, from the International Association for the Study of Obesity, was provided with financial support from the pharmaceutical company, J&J.