Rate My Professor Karen Forbes

Karen Forbes is an Associate Professor of Molecular Endocrinology and Reproduction in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds, affiliated with the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine and the Discovery and Translational Science Department. She leads a research programme that investigates how the maternal metabolic environment influences placental function, fetal growth, and the long-term cardiometabolic health of offspring, with a particular focus on pregnancies complicated by diabetes. Her studies emphasize the role of extracellular vesicles and microRNA-mediated signalling in maternal-placental-fetal communication, encompassing mechanistic investigations using human and experimental models alongside translational research to identify early biomarkers and therapeutic targets for improving pregnancy outcomes and long-term health. Forbes holds a PhD in Molecular Biochemistry from the University of Strathclyde (2005) and a BSc (Hons) in Immunology and Pharmacology from the same university (2001). Her research interests include reproductive biology, endocrinology, diabetes, placental biology, metabolism, maternal nutrition, fetal growth, extracellular vesicles, vasculature, miRNA, proteomics, and cell signalling.

Forbes' career includes postdoctoral and research associate positions at the University of Manchester from 2004 to 2014, followed by a Lectureship at the University of Leeds from 2014 to 2020, and her current role as Associate Professor. She has supervised numerous PhD, postdoctoral, MSc, MRes, intercalating, and visiting researchers, including those funded by the British Heart Foundation, Medical Research Council, and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, with many trainees achieving distinctions and alumni securing academic, clinical academic, or research positions nationally and internationally. Key publications include 'Maternal growth factor regulation of human placental development and fetal growth' (Journal of Endocrinology, 2010), 'Decoding the molecular landscape of the placenta in maternal diabetes: a systematic review of high-throughput data' (2026), 'Hofbauer Cells in Pregnancies Complicated by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Pathological Fetal Growth' (2026), and 'Physiological glucose levels associated with gestational diabetes impact the human placental transcriptome in an ex vivo model' (2025). She contributes to the field as Editorial Board Member of the European Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and Reviewing Editor for eLife. Within the Society for Endocrinology, she serves as Convenor of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Biology Network (2023-present), Member of the Science Committee and Programme Committee (2024-present), and former Member of the Public Engagement Committee (2019-2023).