Main goal: To develop a comprehensive model of the interactions between women’s stress and reproductive physiology in natural contexts (i.e. non-clinical) across reproductive transitions and to evaluate the effects of those interactions on women’s reproductive outcomes
Main goal: To develop appropriate methods for the use of cortisol as a physiologic marker of stress in women of reproductive age
Main goal: To assess the effects of periconceptional maternal stress (+/- 6 weeks from conception) on the development and activity of the HPA and HPG axes across childhood and adolescence
In collaboration with: Drs. A. Gonzalez, H. MacMillan, P. McGowan, L. Atkinson, R. Barr, M. Boyle, N, Catherine, M. Ferro, S. Jack, D. Sheehan, L. Tonmyr, C. Varcoe and C. Waddell
Three primary aims: (1) to determine whether the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) has an effect on infant physiological function, as reflected in alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and epigenetic markers; (2) to investigate whether the NFP has an impact on maternal prenatal cortisol levels and whether prenatal cortisol levels are associated with alterations in infant’s stress physiology and alterations in infant DNA methylation; and (3) to examine whether alterations in biological markers explain the impact of the NFP on infant health
In collaboration with: Dr. Claudia Valeggia, Yale University
Main goal: To provide baseline data on the energy allocation strategies by measuring metabolic correlates of the peri-menopausal period