Major funding for Kirkcaldy researcher into impact of opioids on unborn babies

The impact on children exposed to opioids while in the womb is to be examined by Dr Louise Marryat, of the University of Dundee of the School of Health Sciences. She is based at its Lang Toun facility in Forth Avenue.

Dr Marryat has been named a recipient of a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship. She will work with women who use opioids, and her study will use routinely collected medical data to examine the pathways impacted youngsters take through childhood.

It is hoped that a better understanding of these young people will allow their support networks, including families, clinicians, social workers, and teachers, to support them more effectively.

Dr Marryat said: “Very little is known about the impact that opioid use in pregnancy has on the child. There are many complex issues that surround this.

“These families are more likely to experience challenges, such as living in poverty, and some children will not stay with their birth parents. At the moment we don’t know how much exposure to opioids before birth itself affects development, or whether it is the environment that children grow up in that is important. Children may also be exposed to different types of opioids, and different doses, and we don’t know much about how this affects their development.

She added: “This support from UKRI will provide support to enable me to focus on research into the impact of opioids in pregnancy on the long-term development of children and young people – a timely and hugely under-researched area. My hope is that our findings will identify the best means of supporting affected children and allow each and every one of them to fulfil their potential.”

Josine Opmeer, assistant director, research, at the university, welcomed the award which brought the number of future leaders fellowships at Dundee to six.She added: “The fellowships are UKRI’s flagship funding programme and to have our academics consistently recognised in this way is a reflection of the breadth of incredible research talent in Dundee, and to have secured one of only four in Scotland in this round underscores Louise’s achievement.”