Physiology and Functional Genomics 2024

Fetal growth restriction associated developmental programming in the kidney with and without placental nanoparticle treatment

Name:
Prof. Helen Jones

Email
Jonesh@ufl.edu

Phone
(352) 846-1503

Faculty Department/Division
Physiology and Aging

This project is primarily:
Translational

Research Project Description:
Fetal growth restriction (FGR; estimated fetal weight <10th percentile) is associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and hypertension in later life. The connection between FGR and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases IN adulthood centers around the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DoHAD) hypothesis where environmental stressors during critical fetal developmental windows result in permanent structural and physiological changes, called developmental programming, which predispose offspring to adverse health outcome in postnatal life. Currently, there is noneffective in utero treatment for FGR, thus no clinical intervention to potentially reduce of prevent cardiovascular disease in adults diagnosed with FGR
FGR occurs in up to 10% of pregnancies with suboptimal uteroplacental perfusion, hence impaired fetal nutrition, accounting for25-30% of cases. We have developed a novel, non-viral, nanoparticle-mediated gene therapy that targets the placenta and increases placental insulin-like 1 growth factor (IGF-1) expression. The role of the student will be to work with already obtained fetal kidney tissue from our studies using guinea pigs to analyze FGR-associated developmental programming in the kidney with and without placental nanoparticle treatment. Experimental methods include performing qPCR to analyze gene expression,histological stains to investigate basic morphology and protein localization, and western blots to determine protein expression.

Does this project have an international component or travel?
No

Mitochondrial function in the growth restricted maternal-fetal interface with and without placental nanoparticle treatment

Name:
Prof. Helen Jones

Email
Jonesh@ufl.edu

Phone
(352) 846-1503

Faculty Department/Division
Physiology and Aging

This project is primarily:
Translational

Research Project Description:
Fetal growth restriction (FGR) occurs in 5-10% of all pregnancies in the developed world and has higher rates in the developingworld. FGR contributes significantly to perinatal morbidity and mortality, primarily due to prematurity and hypoxia. Maintaining anupward growth trajectory in utero is paramount to preventing iatrogenic preterm delivery, NICU admission and the complicationsthat can bring. Suboptimal uteroplacental perfusion, hence impaired fetal nutrition, accounts for 25-30% of cases, and currentlythere is no effective in utero treatment for FGR. We have developed a novel, non-viral, nanoparticle-mediated gene therapy thattargets the placenta and increases placental insulin-like 1 growth factor (IGF-1) expression. Our investigations using a guinea pigmodel of FGR indicate that in the placenta, FGR is associated with changes in expression of transcripts related to translation ofmitochondrial proteins. The role of the student will be to further investigate mitochondrial function in the FGR placenta with andwithout IGF-1 nanoparticle treatment. Experimental methods include qPCR analysis of mitochondrial density, western blotassessment of mitochondrial proteins, and colorimetric assays to investigate catalytic enzyme activity.

Does this project have an international component or travel?
No