Research Assistant Professor
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA, United States
Lauren Anton, PhD. is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She has been a member of the Center for Women’s Health and Reproductive Medicine (CWHRM) at the University of Pennsylvania for the past 15 years where she has led multiple translational research projects focused on the biological mechanisms contributing to adverse outcomes of pregnancy including preeclampsia and preterm birth. A subset of her research has been focused broadly on the effects of placental dysfunction in preeclampsia. Specifically, she has investigated the role of angiogenesis, hypoxia, inflammation, and epigenetics in altering trophoblast function. Her work over the past 10 years has been focused on projects investigating the role of the cervicovaginal microbiome on cervicovaginal epithelial barrier integrity in preterm birth. Research projects during this time included 1) identifying microRNAs as biomarkers of preterm birth and their mechanistic role in modifying the cervical epithelial barrier, 2) elucidating the role of the cervicovaginal microbiome in preterm birth, and 3) understanding the effects of host-microbial interactions on cervical epithelial function with a specific focus on microbe-regulation of host immune responses. Her most recent work has focused on Gardnerella vaginalis-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation in cervicovaginal epithelial cell as well as the role of cervicovaginal metabolites in regulating microbiome-mediated alterations of cervicovaginal epithelial cell function (barrier functions, inflammasome activation and immune responses).
Friday, January 31, 2025
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM
