Christians Lab
The prenatal environment determines health throughout
life. The placenta plays a critical role in supplying the
fetus with nutrients and oxygen, and responds to
suboptimal prenatal environments to mitigate adverse
effects. Furthermore, since the placenta is genetically
identical to the fetus and so has a biological sex, its
responses may be sex-dependent. I am interested in fetal
and placental responses to suboptimal environments, how
prenatal environment affects health in adulthood, and the
ways in which responses and long-term effects differ
between the sexes. My work examines both the mechanistic
basis of responses, as well as the evolutionary forces
that have shaped them.
