Table 3: Your First SRI Meeting

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Marilyn Cipolla, PhD

What is Your Current Position?

• Professor, Department of Neurological Sciences
• Joint appointments in OB/GYN and Reproductive Sciences and Pharmacology
• University Scholar
• Program Director, SRI 2018 annual meeting

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

The primary goal of our research is to understand the structure and function of the cerebral circulation under normal and pathological conditions and how to cerebrovascular dysfunction can promote brain injury. Our work has two primary areas of investigation. First, we study how postischemic reperfusion affects the control of cerebral blood flow and blood-brain barrier disruption to cause edema formation and hemorrhage. Second, we study how pregnancy and preeclampsia affect the blood-brain barrier and cerebral blood flow autoregulation in ways that promote the neurological complications of preeclampsia/eclampsia, including seizure and cognitive impairment. Because of my unique combination of expertise in brain injury and reproductive sciences, we have laid the groundwork for understanding how pregnancy and preeclampsia affect the cerebral circulation and blood-brain barrier. We have been continuously well-funded and well-published in both areas. In addition, we have been highly recognized for our work on eclampsia and have received a number of honors and awards, most notably the Georgio Pardi Foundation Award and the President’s Achievement Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation, and the Zuspan Award from the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (ISSHP). I was also named a University Scholar by the University of Vermont in 2015 in recognition for sustained outstanding scholarship.

What has been the most pivotal moment in your career?

Probably the most pivotal moment in my career was moving to Portland, OR and working with the OR Stroke Center at OHSU. There I learned the stroke models and the stroke field.

What is one piece of advice you would give to a trainee?

• Be persistent
• Be efficient
• Be receptive
• Be helpful

 

Yoel Sadovsky, MD

What is Your Current Position?

Executive Director, Magee-Womens Research Institute, Elsie Hilliard Hillman Chair of Women’s Health Research, Distinguished Professor of OBGYN, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Vice Chair (research), Department of OBGYN and Reproductive Sciences, Associate Dean, Women's Health Research and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

The trophoblast at the feto-maternal interface fulfills functions that are critical for embryonic development, including gas exchange, supply of nutrients, removal of waste products, endocrine regulation, and immunological defense. The Sadovsky lab utilizes molecular and cellular approaches to decipher mechanisms underlying placental development, differentiation, and response to injury. We focus on three major areas:

1. Placental microRNAs: We use diverse technologies to define the function and regulation of trophoblastic miRNA in response to injuries, such as hypoxia and viral infections.
2. Extracellular vesicles at the maternal-placental-fetal interface: We interrogate the mechanisms of release and uptake of placental exosomes and other extracellular vesicles.
3. Placental lipidomics: We focus on fat trafficking in the feto-placental unit, including the dynamics of lipid droplets and trophoblastic mobilization of fatty acids and neutral lipids, and their role in placental pathobiology and in the mechanisms underlying preterm birth.

Using cultured primary human placental cells, genetically-altered mice, and placental samples from human pregnancies, the lab examines molecular mechanisms underlying trophoblast response to diverse stressors that adversely influence the homeostatic balance between cell injury and adaptation. These stressors contribute to placental dysfunction and fetal growth restriction (FGR), which predispose to childhood neurodevelopmental dysfunction and adult metabolic syndrome.

 

Jim Segars, MD

What is Your Current Position?

Howard and Georgeanna Jones Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director, Division of Reproductive Sciences and Women's Health Research, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

I am a reproductive endocrinologist and conduct both translational and clinical research on problems of fertility, especially uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and ovarian function. My laboratory uses murine models to investigate hormone action in reproductive tissues, especially relating to sex steroid action.  We are also interested in the intersection of mechanical signaling and hormone action.

What has been the most pivotal moment in your career?

Receiving the "Reproductive Scientist Training Program" award in 1989. This is a mentored grant now known as the "RSDP" and is similar to a K08-K12 NIH mentored grant. This training led me to NIH and helped to launch my career as a physician scientist. 

What is one piece of advice you would give to a trainee?

Do what you love and enjoy and persevere!