Dr. Zeynep Saygin has been awarded the Soter Summit Award for a collaboration with Dr. Maged Constantine to investigate "Sex-specific neuroprotective factors in fetuses exposed to adverse intrauterine environments."
We connected with Dr. Saygin to learn more about this exciting new project.
Could you provide a brief description of the research that this award will support?
Neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder are prevalent worldwide, with males at greater risk than females. Pregnancy complications like preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders may be a catalyst for developmental disorders especially in male offspring. With the Soter award, we explore sex-specific neural changes that may be protective in female babies who are exposed to abnormal environments in-utero. We will also collect preliminary data to explore how maternal physiology, mental health, and stress interact with this potential sex-specific risk/resilience.
Could tell us about how your collaboration with Dr. Maged Costantine began and how this partnership helped shape the project?
I first reached out to Dr. Costantine years ago when I was just getting started with fetal neuroimaging. While this type of pre- and postnatal imaging is a dream for any developmental neuroscientist (we get to test fundamental scientific unknowns and questions of nature/nurture!) it also has large potential for clinical applications. Together with Dr. Costantine, who specializes in complications like preeclampsia, we are making progress towards realizing this potential. We have since received numerous awards and funding to pursue this exciting research including from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences; and now thanks to the Soter family’s generosity, we hope to accelerate research in early identification of infants at high-risk for developmental disorders due to abnormal intrauterine environments, and possible modifiable factors for optimal outcomes and therapies.