Our lab focuses on epigenetic changes and chromosomal abnormalities as they relate to reproductive health.
As women delay child bearing, the risk of miscarriage, pregnancy complications and infertility increases dramatically, with an increase in chromosomal errors playing a significant role. Furthermore environmental exposures are increasingly appreciated to play a role in modifying gene expression in development and may also affect fetal growth and later fertility cascading through subsequent generations.
Some goals of our research include:
- Improved early diagnosis and counseling of chromosomal abnormalities in the placenta
- Characterization of epigenetic gene regulation in the placenta and its role in maternal hypertension and intrauterine growth restriction
- Understanding the role of the placenta and folate transport in the etiology of neural tube defects
- Defining the relationship between biological and reproductive aging, particularly the role of genetic and epigenetic factors in these processes
