Guest speaker Kjersti Aagaard presents her talk, “Sweet Beginnings & Sour Ends: Role of Maternal Diet, Diabetes & Metformin on Fetal Programming.”
“Endocrinology of Pregnancy” was the theme of the 16th Annual Pioneers in Endocrinology Workshop held at Rutgers on October 29, 2024, at the Busch Student Center.
The workshop was sponsored by the Rutgers Endocrine Program; the Department of Animal Sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; Rutgers – RWMJS Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition; the NExT Center, NJ Institute of Food, Nurtition and Health; Research Diets, Inc.; and ThermoFisher Scientific.
Dipak Sarkar, Director of the Rutgers Endocrine Program and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, hosted approximately 70 attendees.
Opening remarks were presented by Sarkar, followed by welcoming remarks from Laura Lawson, Executive Dean, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and Michael E. Zwick, Senior Vice President for Research.
Nicholas Bello, Professor and Chair, Department of Animal Sciences, introduced the first speaker, Terry K. Morgan, Professor of Pathology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University. Morgan’s talk was titled, “Everything We Think We Know About Placental Extracellular Vesicles May Be Wrong: NanoFACS Is a Solution.” His research involves determining how uteroplacental vascular remodeling during pregnancy affects blood flow to the placenta leading to common maternal pregnancy complications and fetal programming of adult-onset disease in their progeny.
Guest speaker Terry K. Morgan presents his talk, “Everything We Think We Know About Placental Extracellular Vesicles May Be Wrong: NanoFACS Is a Solution.”
Following the first presentation, Carol Bagnell, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, led a question-and-answer session.
Louis Amorosa, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, introduced the second speaker, Kjersti Aagaard, National Director of Perinatal Research and Medical Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Texas HCA Healthcare and Research Scientist at the Maternal Fetal Care Center, Division of Fetal Medicine and Surgery, at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Aagaard’s talk was titled, “Sweet Beginnings and Sour Ends: Role of Maternal Diet, Diabetes, and Metformin on Fetal Programming.” Aagaard’s research focuses on the role of the microbiome in pregnancy and early developmental programming, and the impact of key exposures in pregnancy on fetal development and later in life.
The second question-and-answer session was led by Sue Shapses, Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Director of the NExT Center at the NJIFNH. Sarkar concluded the morning session with a note of thanks, which was then followed by a luncheon.
The afternoon featured a poster session in the International Lounge. Approximately 20 posters were presented, displaying endocrine research conducted at Rutgers and other universities in the following areas: addiction and alcohol research, aging and developmental disorders, cancer, circadian biology, diabetes and metabolic diseases, genetics, immunology, microbiome, neuroscience, nutrition and metabolic health, environmental toxicology, psychiatric disorders, stress control, and steroids and reproduction.
Industry colleagues, Research Diets and ThermoFisher, presented display booths at the Busch Student Center. All contributions to the workshop were generous and much appreciated.
To learn more about the Rutgers Endocrine Program and next year’s Pioneers in Endocrinology workshop, contact Dipak Sarkar at dipak.sarkar@rutgers.edu.
