Dr Ashley Meakin (he/him)

Research Assistant UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

City West Campus (HB5-25)
tel +61 8 830 20616

email Ashley.Meakin@unisa.edu.au

Research Degree Supervisor

About me

placenta
fetal growth
steroids

Ashley is a National Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group. His research focuses on two main areas: 1) understanding and targeting androgen signalling in pregnancy to improve generational cardiometabolic outcomes; 2) exploring the impact of pregnancy complications on drug metabolism in the maternal, placental, and fetal compartments. Through his research, Ashley hopes to improve the efficacy and safety of drugs commonly used during pregnancy, and develop novel diagnostics and interventions to ensure that every baby gets the most out of life.

UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences is addressing society’s most critical and emerging health needs through quality teaching, learning and research excellence.

Other UniSA associations

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Research

Research focus

Medical Physiology
Physiology
Clinical Sciences
Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine
Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2025	Amanollahi, R, Holman, SL, Bertossa, MR, Meakin, AS, Thornburg, KL, McMillen, IC, Wiese, MD, Lock, MC & Morrison, JL 2025, 'Ontogeny of Fetal Cardiometabolic pathways: the potential role of Cortisol and Thyroid Hormones in driving the transition from Preterm to Near-Term Heart development in Sheep', Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease, vol. 12, no. 2, article no. 36, pp. 1-21. Open access 1
2025	Bennett, MG, Meakin, AS, Botting-Lawford, KJ, Niu, Y, Ford, SG, Murphy, MP, Wiese, MD, Giussani, DA & Morrison, JL 2025, 'Maternal MitoQ treatment is protective against programmed alterations in CYP activity due to antenatal dexamethasone', Pharmaceutics, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1-16. Open access
2025	Durante, ED, Wiese, MD, Meakin, AS, Hall, KC & Doubleday, ZA 2025, 'Reconstructing life-time reproductive histories using steroid hormones in cephalopod beaks', Limnology and Oceanography Letters, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 212-222. Open access
2025	Hammond, SJ, Roff, AJ, Robinson, JL, Darby, JRT, Meakin, AS, Clifton, VL, Bischof, RJ, Stark, MJ, Wallace, MJ, Tai, A, Morrison, JL & Gatford, KL 2025, 'In utero exposure to experimental maternal asthma alters fetal airway development in sheep', Experimental Physiology, vol. 110, no. 6, pp. 899-907. Open access
2025	McGillick, E V, Orgeig, S, Allison, BJ, Brain, KL, Bertossa, MR, Holman, SL, Meakin, AS, Wiese, MD, Niu, Y, Itani, N, Skeffington, KL, Beck, C, Botting-Lawford, KJ, Morrison, JL & Giussani, DA 2025, 'Chronic fetal hypoxia and antenatal Vitamin C exposure differentially regulate molecular signalling in the lung of female lambs in early adulthood', Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 15, pp. 1-14. Open access 1 1
2025	Roff, AJ, Davies, AN, Clifton, VL, Stark, MJ, Tai, A, Robinson, JL, Hammond, SJ, Darby, JR, Meakin, AS, Lock, MC, Wiese, MD, Sharkey, DJ, Bischof, RJ, Morrison, JL & Gatford, KL 2025, 'Pregnancy does not affect progression of mild experimental asthma in sheep', The Journal of Physiology, vol. 603, no. 5, pp. 1241-1261. Open access
2024	Bertossa, MR, Darby, JR, Holman, SL, Meakin, AS, Li, C, Huber, HF, Wiese, MD, Nathanielsz, PW & Morrison, JL 2024, 'Maternal high fat-high energy diet alters metabolic factors in the non-human primate fetal heart', The Journal of Physiology, vol. 602, no. 17, pp. 4251-4269. Open access 3 3 162
2024	Dimasi, CG, Darby, JR, Holman, SL, Quinn, M, Meakin, AS, Seed, M, Wiese, MD & Morrison, JL 2024, 'Cardiac growth patterns and metabolism before and after birth in swine: role of miR in proliferation, hypertrophy and metabolism', Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Plus, vol. 9, article no. 100084, pp. 1-14. Open access 3 4
2024	Meakin, AS, Gatford, KL, Lien, YC, Wiese, MD, Simmons, RA & Morrison, JL 2024, 'Characterisation of ciclesonide metabolism in human placentae across gestation', Placenta, vol. 154, pp. 42-48. Open access
2024	Meakin, AS, Nathanielsz, PW, Li, C, Clifton, VL, Wiese, MD & Morrison, JL 2024, 'Maternal obesity impacts fetal liver androgen signalling in a sex-specific manner', Life Sciences, vol. 337, article no. 122344, pp. 1-9. Open access 4 4 239
2024	Meakin, AS, Nathanielsz, PW, Li, C, Huber, HF, Clifton, VL, Wiese, MD & Morrison, J 2024, 'Maternal obesogenic diet during pregnancy and its impact on fetal hepatic function in baboons', Obesity, vol. 32, no. 10, pp. 1910-1922. Open access 1 5
2024	Meakin, AS, Smith, M, Morrison, JL, Roberts, CT, Lappas, M, Ellery, SJ, Holland, O, Perkins, A, McCracken, SA, Flenady, V & Clifton, VL 2024, 'Placenta-specific transcripts containing androgen response elements are altered in silico by male growth outcomes', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 25, no. 3, article no. 1688, pp. 1-13. Open access
2024	Robinson, JL, Roff, AJ, Hammond, SJ, Darby, JR, Meakin, AS, Holman, SL, Tai, A, Moss, TJ, Dimasi, CG, Jesse, SM, Wiese, MD, Davies, AN, Muhlhausler, BS, Bischof, RJ, Wallace, MJ, Clifton, VL, Morrison, JL, Stark, MJ & Gatford, KL 2024, 'Betamethasone improved near-term neonatal lamb lung maturation in experimental maternal asthma', Experimental Physiology, vol. 109, no. 11, pp. 1967-1979. Open access 1 1 1
2023	Darby, JR, Williams, GK, Cho, SK, Meakin, AS, Holman, SL, Quinn, M, Wiese, MD, Macgowan, CK, Seed, M & Morrison, JL 2023, 'Acute resveratrol exposure does not impact hemodynamics of the fetal sheep', Physiological Reports, vol. 11, no. 12, pp. 1-12. Open access 3 3 8
2023	Dimasi, CG, Darby, JRT, Cho, SKS, Saini, BS, Holman, SL, Meakin, AS, Wiese, MD, Macgowan, CK, Seed, M & Morrison, JL 2023, 'Reduced in utero substrate supply decreases mitochondrial abundance and alters the expression of metabolic signalling molecules in the fetal sheep heart', The Journal of Physiology, volume 602, issue 21, pp. 5901-5922. Open access 12 13 2
2023	Meakin, AS, Amirmostofian, M, Darby, JR, Holman, SL, Morrison, JL & Wiese, MD 2023, 'Characterisation of cytochrome P450 isoenzyme activity in sheep liver and placental microsomes', Placenta, vol. 131, no. , pp. 82-89. Open access 2 2 5
2022	Meakin, AS, Darby, JR, Holman, SL, Wiese, MD & Morrison, JL 2022, 'Maternal-placental-fetal drug metabolism is altered by late gestation undernutrition in the pregnant ewe', Life Sciences, vol. 298, article no. 120521, pp. 1-9. Open access 10 9 5
2022	Meakin, AS, Gough, M, Saif, Z & Clifton, VL 2022, 'An ex vivo approach to understanding sex-specific differences in placental androgen signalling in the presence and absence of inflammation', Placenta, vol. 120, pp. 49-58. 7 7 12
2022	Morrison, JL, Williams, GK, Cho, SK, Saini, BS, Meakin, AS, Holman, SL, Quinn, M, Wiese, MD, Macgowan, CK, Seed, M & Darby, JR 2022, 'MRI Characterization of blood flow and oxygen delivery in the fetal sheep whilst exposed to sildenafil citrate', Neonatology: Foetal and Neonatal Research, vol. 119, no. 6, pp. 735-744. Open access 8 8 8
2021	McBride, GM, Meakin, AS, Soo, JY, Darby, JR, Varcoe, TJ, Bradshaw, EL, Lock, MC, Holman, SL, Saini, BS, Macgowan, CK, Seed, M, Berry, MJ, Wiese, MD & Morrison, JL 2021, 'Intrauterine growth restriction alters the activity of drug metabolising enzymes in the maternal-placental-fetal unit', Life Sciences, vol. 285, article no. 120016, pp. 1-9. Open access 16 15 7
2021	Meakin, AS, Cuffe, JS, Darby, JR, Morrison, JL & Clifton, VL 2021, 'Let's talk about placental sex, baby: understanding mechanisms that drive female-and male-specific fetal growth and developmental outcomes', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 22, no. 12, article no. 6386, pp. 1-17. Open access 90 85 25
2021	Saif, Z, Meakin, AS & Clifton, VL 2021, 'A preferential switch between placental GR exon 1 promoter variants in the presence of maternal asthma or inflammation upregulates GRα D isoforms', Placenta, vol.108, pp. 64-72. 3 2 6
2021	Wiese, MD, Meakin, AS, Varcoe, TJ, Darby, JR, Sarr, O, Kiser, P, Bradshaw, EL, Regnault, TR & Morrison, JL 2021, 'Hepatic cytochrome P450 function is reduced by life-long Western diet consumption in guinea pig independent of birth weight', Life Sciences, vol. 287, article no. 120133, pp. 1-11. Open access 7 7 2
2021	Young, S, Saif, Z, Meakin, A, McMaster, E, Hayes, N, Gallo, L, Reid, N, Moritz, K & Clifton, V 2021, 'Alterations to placental glucocorticoid receptor expression with alcohol consumption', Reproductive Sciences, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 1390-1402. 4 3 18
2019	Meakin, A & Clifton, V 2019, 'Review: understanding the role of androgens and placental AR variants: insight into steroid-dependent fetal-placental growth and development', Placenta, vol. 84, pp. 63-68. Open access 16 15
2019	Meakin, AS, Saif, Z, Tuck, AR & Clifton, VL 2019, 'Human placental androgen receptor variants: potential regulators of male fetal growth', Placenta, vol. 80, pp. 18-26. 23 22 4
2017	Meakin, A, Saif, Z, Jones, A, Aviles, PV & Clifton, V 2017, 'Review: placental adaptations to the presence of maternal asthma during pregnancy', Placenta, vol. 54, pp. 17-23. Open access 37 35

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
CSIRO Australia (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research organisation)	AUSTRALIA
Federation University Australia	AUSTRALIA
Flinders University	AUSTRALIA
Griffith University	AUSTRALIA
Mater Medical Research Institute	AUSTRALIA
Monash University	AUSTRALIA
NSW Department of Primary Industries	AUSTRALIA
Oregon Health and Science University	UNITED STATES
South Australian Health and Medical and Research Institute (SAHMRI)	AUSTRALIA
Texas Biomedical Research Institute	UNITED STATES
University of Adelaide	AUSTRALIA
University of Cambridge	UNITED KINGDOM
University of Melbourne	AUSTRALIA
University of Otago	NEW ZEALAND
University of Pennsylvania	UNITED STATES
University of Queensland	AUSTRALIA
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
University of Sydney	AUSTRALIA
University of the Sunshine Coast	AUSTRALIA
University of Toronto	CANADA
University of Wyoming	UNITED STATES
Western University	CANADA
Women's and Children's Hospital	AUSTRALIA

Teaching & student supervision

Research degree supervision

Supervisions from 2010 shown

Thesis title	Student status
Born too soon: Impact on ability to metabolise drugs	Current
Born too soon: Impact on ability to metabolise drugs	Current
Role of male sex hormones in the placenta	Current

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Dr Ashley Meakin (he/him)

About me

About me

UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

Other UniSA associations

About me

Professional Associations

Experience

Qualifications

Research

Research focus

Projects

Outputs

Journal Articles

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Collaborations

Teaching & student supervision

Courses and programs

Research degree supervision

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