Dr Adam Watkins

PhD, MEd, BSc.

Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Medicine

a.watkins@sheffield.ac.uk

G33, The Medical School

Full contact details

Dr Adam Watkins
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health
G33
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX

Profile: I conducted my PhD and post-doctoral research at the University of Southampton investigating the impact of mouse embryo culture and maternal diet on long-term adult health. In 2011, I was awarded a University of Nottingham Advanced Research Fellowship to pivot my research to focus on the impact of paternal nutrition on sperm quality and adult offspring cardiovascular and metabolic health in the mouse. Following this, I continued my paternal programming research under an Aston University research fellowship defining the sperm and seminal fluid-specific mechanisms linking paternal diet with offspring health. In 2017, I joined the University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor where I continued to determine how paternal diet impacts on male reproductive fitness and post-fertilisation development. In 2024, I joined the University of Sheffield as a Senior Lecturer and continue to investigate parental lifestyle associations with reproductive health and offspring development.

Qualifications

Medical Biochemistry, BSc – University of Sheffield, UK
Med (Distinction) – Aston University, UK
PhD Embryology – University of Southampton, UK

Research interests: My group is interested in understanding how parental environmental factors, such as diet or smoking, shape reproductive fitness, gamete quality, embryo development, fetal growth and adult offspring health. We are fundamentally interested in understanding how parental well-being around the time of conception can have long-term impacts on the development and health of their offspring and the mechanisms through which they operate.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Featured publications

Journal articles

Khoshkerdar A, Eid N, Batra V, Baker N, Holmes N, Henson S, Sang F, Wright V, McLaren J, Shakesheff K , Woad KJ et al (2024) Sub-optimal paternal diet at the time of mating disrupts maternal adaptations to pregnancy in the late gestation mouse. Nutrients, 16(12). View this article in WRRO
Morgan HL, Aljumah A, Rouillon C & Watkins AJ (2021) Paternal low protein diet and the supplementation of methyl-donors impact fetal growth and placental development in mice. Placenta, 103, 124-133.
Morgan HL, Paganopoulou P, Akhtar S, Urquhart N, Philomin R, Dickinson Y & Watkins AJ (2020) Paternal diet impairs F1 and F2 offspring vascular function through sperm and seminal plasma specific mechanisms in mice. The Journal of Physiology, 598(4), 699-715.
Watkins AJ, Dias I, Tsuro H, Allen D, Emes RD, Moreton J, Wilson R, Ingram RJM & Sinclair KD (2018) Paternal diet programs offspring health through sperm- and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 115(40), 10064-10069.
Fleming TP, Watkins AJ, Velazquez MA, Mathers JC, Prentice AM, Stephenson J, Barker M, Saffery R, Yajnik CS, Eckert JJ , Hanson MA et al (2018) Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception: causes and consequences. The Lancet, 391(10132), 1842-1852.
Watkins AJ, Sirovica S, Stokes B, Isaacs M, Addison O & Martin RA (2017) Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease, 1863(6), 1371-1381.
Watkins AJ & Sinclair KD (2014) Paternal low protein diet affects adult offspring cardiovascular and metabolic function in mice. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 306(10), H1444-H1452.
Morgan HL, Eid N, Holmes N, Henson S, Wright V, Coveney C, Winder C, O’Neil DM, Dunn WB, Boocock DJ & Watkins AJ () Paternal undernutrition and overnutrition modify semen composition and preimplantation embryo developmental kinetics in mice. BMC Biology, 22(1).
Furse S, Morgan HL, Koulman A & Watkins AJ () Characterisation of the Paternal Influence on Intergenerational Offspring Cardiac and Brain Lipid Homeostasis in Mice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(3), 1814-1814.
Morgan HL, Furse S, Dias IHK, Shabir K, Castellanos M, Khan I, May ST, Holmes N, Carlile M, Sang F , Wright V et al () Paternal low protein diet perturbs inter-generational metabolic homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner in mice. Communications Biology, 5(1).

All publications

Journal articles

Marchant A, McGregor J, Del Pozo Banos M, Lloyd K, Williams D, Thapar A, Watkins A & John A (2024) The impact of published guidance on trends in the pharmacological management of depression in children and adolescents- a whole population e-cohort data linkage study in Wales, UK. Psychological Medicine, 54(16), 4691-4703. View this article in WRRO
Short E, Adcock IM, Al-Sarireh B, Ager A, Ajjan R, Akbar N, Akeroyd MA, Alsaleh G, Al-Sharbatee G, Alavian K , Amoaku W et al (2024) Defining an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome: international consensus statement. GeroScience. View this article in WRRO
Furse S, Martel C, Willer DF, Stabler D, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Scott J, Patterson-Cross R, Watkins AJ, Virtue S, Prescott TAK , Baker E et al (2024) Systemic analysis of lipid metabolism from individuals to multi-organism systems. Molecular Omics, 20(9), 570-583. View this article in WRRO
Khoshkerdar A, Eid N, Batra V, Baker N, Holmes N, Henson S, Sang F, Wright V, McLaren J, Shakesheff K , Woad KJ et al (2024) Sub-optimal paternal diet at the time of mating disrupts maternal adaptations to pregnancy in the late gestation mouse. Nutrients, 16(12). View this article in WRRO
Ammar OF, Sharma K, Liperis G, Fraire-Zamora JJ, Serdarogullari M, Ali ZE, Ramasamy R, Laurentino S, Watkins A & Mincheva M (2023) Balancing the scales: the interplay of diet, exercise, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and obesity in shaping male reproductive health. Human Reproduction, 38(8), 1649-1653.
Furse S, Watkins AJ, Williams HEL, Snowden SG, Chiarugi D & Koulman A (2022) Paternal nutritional programming of lipid metabolism is propagated through sperm and seminal plasma. Metabolomics, 18(2).
Keating AF & Watkins AJ (2021) REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY: Reproductive toxicology: emerging toxicants and cellular targets. Reproduction, 162(5), E5-E6.
Khoshkerdar A, Eryasar E, Morgan HL & Watkins AJ (2021) REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY: Impacts of paternal environment and lifestyle on maternal health during pregnancy. Reproduction, 162(5), F101-F109.
Morgan HL & Watkins AJ (2021) Paternal High-fat Diet Impairs Maternal Adaptations Essential for Normal Pregnancy. Endocrinology, 162(10).
Furse S, Williams HEL, Watkins AJ, Virtue S, Vidal-Puig A, Amarsi R, Charalambous M & Koulman A (2021) A pipeline for making 31P NMR accessible for small- and large-scale lipidomics studies. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 413(19), 4763-4773.
Morgan HL, Aljumah A, Rouillon C & Watkins AJ (2021) Paternal low protein diet and the supplementation of methyl-donors impact fetal growth and placental development in mice. Placenta, 103, 124-133.
Lanham SA, Smith SJ, Watkins AJ, Lucas ES, MacCaoilte N, Oreffo ROC, Fleming TP & Eckert JJ (2021) Periconception maternal low-protein diet adversely affects male mouse fetal bone growth and mineral density quality in late gestation. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 12(3), 384-395.
Aljahdali A, Airina RKRI, Velazquez MA, Sheth B, Wallen K, Osmond C, Watkins AJ, Eckert JJ, Smyth NR & Fleming TP (2020) The duration of embryo culture after mouse IVF differentially affects cardiovascular and metabolic health in male offspring. Human Reproduction, 35(11), 2497-2514.
Watkins AJ, Rubini E, Hosier ED & Morgan HL (2020) Paternal programming of offspring health. Early Human Development, 150, 105185-105185.
Morgan HL, Ampong I, Eid N, Rouillon C, Griffiths HR & Watkins AJ (2020) Low protein diet and methyl-donor supplements modify testicular physiology in mice. Reproduction, 159(5), 627-641.
Morgan HL, Paganopoulou P, Akhtar S, Urquhart N, Philomin R, Dickinson Y & Watkins AJ (2020) Paternal diet impairs F1 and F2 offspring vascular function through sperm and seminal plasma specific mechanisms in mice. The Journal of Physiology, 598(4), 699-715.
Morgan HL & Watkins AJ (2020) The influence of seminal plasma on offspring development and health. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 97, 131-137.
Velazquez MA, Fleming TP & Watkins AJ (2019) Periconceptional environment and the developmental origins of disease. Journal of Endocrinology, 242(1), T33-T49.
Watkins AJ, Pearce G, Unak P, Guldu OK, Yasakci V, Akin O, Aras O, Wong J & Ma X (2018) Tissue Morphology and Gene Expression Characterisation of Transplantable Adenocarcinoma Bearing Mice Exposed to Fluorodeoxyglucose-Conjugated Magnetic Nanoparticles. Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, 14(11), 1979-1991.
Watkins AJ, Dias I, Tsuro H, Allen D, Emes RD, Moreton J, Wilson R, Ingram RJM & Sinclair KD (2018) Paternal diet programs offspring health through sperm- and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 115(40), 10064-10069.
Fleming TP, Watkins AJ, Velazquez MA, Mathers JC, Prentice AM, Stephenson J, Barker M, Saffery R, Yajnik CS, Eckert JJ , Hanson MA et al (2018) Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception: causes and consequences. The Lancet, 391(10132), 1842-1852.
Lucas ES & Watkins AJ (2017) The Long-Term Effects of the Periconceptional Period on Embryo Epigenetic Profile and Phenotype; The Paternal Role and His Contribution, and How Males Can Affect Offspring’s Phenotype/Epigenetic Profile, 137-154.
Watkins AJ, Sirovica S, Stokes B, Isaacs M, Addison O & Martin RA (2017) Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease, 1863(6), 1371-1381.
Denisenko O, Lucas ES, Sun C, Watkins AJ, Mar D, Bomsztyk K & Fleming TP (2016) Regulation of ribosomal RNA expression across the lifespan is fine-tuned by maternal diet before implantation. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms, 1859(7), 906-913.
Watkins AJ, Lucas ES, Marfy-Smith S, Bates N, Kimber SJ & Fleming TP (2015) Maternal nutrition modifies trophoblast giant cell phenotype and fetal growth in mice. REPRODUCTION, 149(6), 563-575.
Fleming TP, Watkins AJ, Sun C, Velazquez MA, Smyth NR & Eckert JJ (2015) Do little embryos make big decisions? How maternal dietary protein restriction can permanently change an embryo’s potential, affecting adult health. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 27(4), 684-684.
Watkins AJ & Sinclair KD (2014) Paternal low protein diet affects adult offspring cardiovascular and metabolic function in mice. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 306(10), H1444-H1452.
Fleming TP, Velazquez MA, Eckert JJ, Lucas ES & Watkins AJ (2012) Nutrition of females during the peri-conceptional period and effects on foetal programming and health of offspring. Animal Reproduction Science, 130(3-4), 193-197.
Fleming TP, Lucas ES, Watkins AJ & Eckert JJ (2012) Adaptive responses of the embryo to maternal diet and consequences for post-implantation development. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 24(1), 35-35.
Lucas ES, Watkins AJ, Cox AL, Marfy-Smith SJ, Smyth N & Fleming TP (2011) Tissue-specific selection of reference genes is required for expression studies in the mouse model of maternal protein undernutrition. Theriogenology, 76(3), 558-569.
Guerrero KL, Emery SJ, Wareham K, Ismail S, Watkins A & Lucas MG (2010) A randomised controlled trial comparing TVT^TM, Pelvicol^TM and autologous fascial slings for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 117(12), 1493-1503.
Watkins AJ, Lucas ES, Torrens C, Cleal JK, Green L, Osmond C, Eckert JJ, Gray WP, Hanson MA & Fleming TP (2010) Maternal low-protein diet during mouse pre-implantation development induces vascular dysfunction and altered renin–angiotensin-system homeostasis in the offspring. British Journal of Nutrition, 103(12), 1762-1770.
Watkins AJ, Lucas ES & Fleming TP (2010) Impact of the periconceptional environment on the programming of adult disease. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 1(2), 87-95.
Lucas ES, Finn SL, Cox A, Lock FR & Watkins AJ (2009) The impact of maternal high fat nutrition on the next generation: food for thought?. The Journal of Physiology, 587(14), 3425-3426.
Sellayah D, Sek K, Anthony FW, Watkins AJ, Osmond C, Fleming TP, Hanson MA & Cagampang FR (2008) Appetite regulatory mechanisms and food intake in mice are sensitive to mismatch in diets between pregnancy and postnatal periods. Brain Research, 1237, 146-152.
Watkins AJ, Wilkins A, Cunningham C, Perry VH, Seet MJ, Osmond C, Eckert JJ, Torrens C, Cagampang FRA, Cleal J , Gray WP et al (2008) Low protein diet fed exclusively during mouse oocyte maturation leads to behavioural and cardiovascular abnormalities in offspring. The Journal of Physiology, 586(8), 2231-2244.
Sabit R, Griffiths TL, Watkins AJ, Evans W, Bolton CE, Shale DJ & Lewis KE (2008) Predictors of poor attendance at an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Respiratory Medicine, 102(6), 819-824.
Watkins A, Papenbrock T & Fleming T (2008) The Preimplantation Embryo: Handle with Care. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, 26(2), 175-185.
Watkins AJ, Ursell E, Panton R, Papenbrock T, Hollis L, Cunningham C, Wilkins A, Perry VH, Sheth B, Kwong WY , Eckert JJ et al (2008) Adaptive Responses by Mouse Early Embryos to Maternal Diet Protect Fetal Growth but Predispose to Adult Onset Disease1. Biology of Reproduction, 78(2), 299-306.
Watkins AJ, Platt D, Papenbrock T, Wilkins A, Eckert JJ, Kwong WY, Osmond C, Hanson M & Fleming TP (2007) Mouse embryo culture induces changes in postnatal phenotype including raised systolic blood pressure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(13), 5449-5454.
Fleming TP, Kwong WY, Porter R, Ursell E, Fesenko I, Wilkins A, Miller DJ, Watkins AJ & Eckert JJ (2004) The Embryo and Its Future1. Biology of Reproduction, 71(4), 1046-1054.
Morgan HL, Eid N, Holmes N, Henson S, Wright V, Coveney C, Winder C, O’Neil DM, Dunn WB, Boocock DJ & Watkins AJ () Paternal undernutrition and overnutrition modify semen composition and preimplantation embryo developmental kinetics in mice. BMC Biology, 22(1).
Furse S, Morgan HL, Koulman A & Watkins AJ () Characterisation of the Paternal Influence on Intergenerational Offspring Cardiac and Brain Lipid Homeostasis in Mice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(3), 1814-1814.
Batra V, Norman E, Morgan HL & Watkins AJ () Parental Programming of Offspring Health: The Intricate Interplay between Diet, Environment, Reproduction and Development. Biomolecules, 12(9), 1289-1289.
Morgan HL, Furse S, Dias IHK, Shabir K, Castellanos M, Khan I, May ST, Holmes N, Carlile M, Sang F , Wright V et al () Paternal low protein diet perturbs inter-generational metabolic homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner in mice. Communications Biology, 5(1).
Furse S, Watkins AJ, Hojat N, Smith J, Williams HEL, Chiarugi D & Koulman A () Lipid Traffic Analysis reveals the impact of high paternal carbohydrate intake on offsprings’ lipid metabolism. Communications Biology, 4(1).
Morgan HL, Eid N, Khoshkerdar A & Watkins AJ () Defining the male contribution to embryo quality and offspring health in assisted reproduction in farm animals. Animal Reproduction, 17(3).
Furse S, Watkins AJ & Koulman A () Extraction of Lipids from Liquid Biological Samples for High-Throughput Lipidomics. Molecules, 25(14), 3192-3192.
Aras O, Pearce G, Watkins AJ, Nurili F, Medine EI, Guldu OK, Tekin V, Wong J, Ma X, Ting R , Unak P et al () An in-vivo pilot study into the effects of FDG-mNP in cancer in mice. PLOS ONE, 13(8), e0202482-e0202482.
Eckert JJ, Porter R, Watkins AJ, Burt E, Brooks S, Leese HJ, Humpherson PG, Cameron IT & Fleming TP () Metabolic Induction and Early Responses of Mouse Blastocyst Developmental Programming following Maternal Low Protein Diet Affecting Life-Long Health. PLoS ONE, 7(12), e52791-e52791.
Watkins AJ, Lucas ES, Wilkins A, Cagampang FRA & Fleming TP () Maternal Periconceptional and Gestational Low Protein Diet Affects Mouse Offspring Growth, Cardiovascular and Adipose Phenotype at 1 Year of Age. PLoS ONE, 6(12), e28745-e28745.

Chapters

Batra V, Eid N, Morgan HL & Watkins AJ (2024) Spermatogenesis, Spermiation and the Human Sperm, Mastering Clinical Embryology (pp. 82-87). CRC Press
Morgan HL & Watkins AJ (2019) Transgenerational Impact of Environmental Change, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (pp. 71-89). Springer International Publishing

Conference proceedings papers

Sinclair KD & Watkins AJ (2014) Parental diet, pregnancy outcomes and offspring health: metabolic determinants in developing oocytes and embryos. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, Vol. 26(1) (pp 99-99)
Lanham SA, Lock FR, Lucas ES, Watkins AJ, Fleming TP, Oreffo ROC & Harding S (2012) MATERNAL DIET ALTERS FETAL BONE DEVELOPMENT. OSTEOPOROSIS INTERNATIONAL, Vol. 23 (pp S605-S606)
Watkins AJ & Fleming TP (2009) Blastocyst environment and its influence on offspring cardiovascular health: the heart of the matter. Journal of Anatomy, Vol. 215(1) (pp 52-59)

Preprints

Short E, Adcock IM, Al-Sarireh B, Ager A, Ajjan R, Akbar N, Akeroyd MA, Alsaleh G, Al-Sharbatee G, Alavian K , Amoaku W et al (2024) Defining an Ageing-Related Pathology, Disease or Syndrome: International Consensus Statement, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Research group

Dr Vipul Batra

Grants

BBSRC - Establishing the sperm and seminal plasma mechanisms of paternal programming (January 2022 – December 2025)
British Heart Foundation - Defining the mechanisms through which paternal obesity programmes offspring cardio-metabolic ill health and maternal well-being in pregnancy (October 2025 – September 2028)

Professional activities and memberships

Editorial board member for Reproductive Biomedicine Online (RBMO)
Editorial board member for Reproduction and Fertility

Current projects

BBSRC - Establishing the sperm and seminal plasma mechanisms of paternal programming