Director
University of Texas Medical Branch
For the past 34 years, I have worked in the fields of perinatal and reproductive immunology and biology, with an emphasis on understanding the immunobiology that leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes. My laboratory studies pregnancy and parturition from a fetal perspective. A central theme of my research focuses on fetal immune and oxidative stress (OS) responses to adverse intrauterine environments to identify risk-specific mechanistic pathways. Using fetal membranes and placental tissues, I have developed multiple models to study fetal immune response to various maternal risk factors. Using multiple models of OS and inflammation, we have shown the mechanisms of senescence and how senescence of the fetal membranes can trigger parturition. We have tested various system-based Organ-on-Chip (OOC, fetal membrane, placenta, cervix, and myometrium) models and learned their function. Two recent NIH funds (U2CTR004868 and 1UH2TR00411701) have helped us to advance the use of microphysiologic platforms for drug discovery, high throughput screening (HTS), development of drug development tools (DDT), and conduct preclinical trials. The RO1 funding enables us to develop an extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery system to reduce the risk of preterm birth.
As the Director of the Basic Science and Translational Research in Reproductive Medicine and Biology in OB&GYN at UTMB, I lead a team of 11 faculty members and 30 other staff. For the past 17 years, I have been the Executive Director of the Preterm Birth International Collaborative (PREBIC, Inc.), a not-for-profit research & education organization dedicated to reducing the risk of preterm birth. I have mentored over 50 graduate students, postdocs, and maternal-fetal medicine fellows.
I have authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles, including 53 reviews and 11 book chapters on pregnancy and parturition. My extensive experience and collaborations in this field provide a unique framework for successfully carrying out this project—Google Scholar H-Index – 81.
