Colleges
Websites
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British Heart Foundation
Funding
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Additional Ventures
Funding
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John Fell Fund
Funding
Duncan Sparrow
PhD
Professor of Cardiovascular Developmental Biology
- BHF Senior Basic Science Research Fellow
- Supernumerary Fellow of Exeter College
Duncan Sparrow completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in the field of the regulation of tissue-specific transcription. He moved to the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill for his first postdoc, where he worked with Dr Tim Mohun on the developmental biology of heart and skeletal muscle formation in Xenopus laevis. He then returned to Australia to take up the position of Senior Research Scientist in Professor Sally Dunwoodie's laboratory at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. There he investigated the genetic and environmental causes of congenital vertebral malformation in human patients and mouse models.
His current research focus is how embryonic heart development can be perturbed by both genetic and environmental means. He is supported by funding from the British Heart Foundation, Additional Ventures, The John Fell Fund and the Federated Foundation.
Key publications
Maternal anaemia and congenital heart disease in offspring: a case-control study using linked electronic health records in the United Kingdom
Journal article
Nair M. et al, (2025), BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Maternal iron deficiency perturbs embryonic cardiovascular development in mice.
Journal article
Kalisch-Smith JI. et al, (2021), Nature communications, 12
Environmental Risk Factors for Congenital Heart Disease
Journal article
Kalisch-Smith JI. et al, (2019), Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, a037234 - a037234
NAD Deficiency, Congenital Malformations and Niacin Supplementation
Journal article
Shi H. et al, (2017), New England Journal of Medicine
Gestational Stress Induces the Unfolded Protein Response Resulting in Heart Defects
Journal article
Shi H. et al, (2016), Development
A mechanism for gene-environment interaction in the etiology of congenital scoliosis.
Journal article
Sparrow DB. et al, (2012), Cell, 149, 295 - 306