MODCAST

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Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun on the Discovery of microRNA and More Jan 29, 2025

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Winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun give a rare, extended joint interview about the road that led them to their discovery of miRNA in a roundworm, Dr. Ruvkun’s later discovery of miRNA in humans, how the scientists were both inspired at a young age by astronomy, what Dr. Ambros’ late father might have said about his son’s Nobel win, and a decades-old story from Dr. Ruvkun about a trip to Bolivia.

Dr. Emre Seli and Jonathan Cherry on the 2024 Year in (Research) Review Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

March of Dimes Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Emre Seli and March of Dimes Senior Director of Research Operations Jonathan Cherry look back on MODCAST since its launch, and look forward to episodes in 2025.

Dr. Sam Mesiano on the Enzyme Discovery that Could Revive Progesterone Therapy for Preterm Birth Nov 20, 2024

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Dr. Sam Mesiano, an investigator at the March of Dimes Ohio Collaborative Prematurity Research Center, discusses the enzyme that leads to progesterone withdrawal and labor in cases of infection-related preterm birth - and how this enzyme discovery can be used to revive progesterone therapy to delay or stop preterm birth.

Dr. Alexiane Decout and Dr. David MacIntyre on the Protective Power of a Good Vaginal Microbiome Oct 30, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Alexiane Decout, an assistant professor in immunology at the University of Warwick, and Dr. David MacIntyre, one of the directors of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Imperial College London, discuss the biological advantage of Lactobacillus Crispatus, the most in-demand of all vaginal microbiome bacteria, which is protective against preterm birth. Read the preprint here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.09.13.612838v1.full

Jonathan Cherry on March of Dimes Research Grants and Awards Sep 25, 2024

Show notes

March of Dimes Senior Director of Research Operations Jonathan Cherry on March of Dimes research grants and awards.

Dr. Sarah England and Dr. Nima Aghaeepour on How Sleep and Movement May Lower Preterm Birth Risk Aug 28, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Nima Aghaeepour, an investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford, and Dr. Sarah England, the director of the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine, discuss a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) model that found that sleepers and movers have a 52% reduced risk of delivering early while those sleeping and moving less have a 44% increased risk of delivering early.

March of Dimes' 2024 Basil O'Connor Award Winners Dr. Enninga and Dr. Murray Horwitz on Cell Free (cf) Fetal DNA as Labor Trigger, Barriers to Postpartum Heart Health Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

The 2024 winners of the March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards, Dr. Elizabeth Enninga and Dr. Mara Murray Horwitz, discuss their areas of study. Dr. Enninga, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Immunology, at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, explains how cell free (cf) fetal DNA triggers labor and preterm birth, and how understanding more about this process can help prevent early labor and more effectively induce labor. Dr. Murray Horwitz, a primary care doctor at Boston Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University, discusses barriers women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP), like preeclampsia, face in achieving cardiac and overall health after childbirth, and delves into an intervention called patient navigation that can lessen those barriers.

Dr. Alan Flake on the Artificial Womb, Fetal Surgery, and Stem Cell Therapy Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Alan Flake, the Director of the Center for Fetal Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and 2021 March of Dimes Prize recipient, discusses the most impactful pursuits of his career: fetal surgery, the artificial womb, and in utero stem cell therapy.

Dr. Brice Gaudillière on Separating the Signal from the Noise: A Novel Biomarker Identification Model for Preterm Birth and Preeclampsia May 29, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Brice Gaudillière, an investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, discusses a breakthrough Machine Learning (ML) algorithm that makes reliable predictions about labor onset, preterm birth, and preeclampsia and also identifies the biological markers supporting those predictions.

Dr. Marisa Bartolomei on Imprinted Genes, Epigenetic Mutations and Developmental Disorders Apr 24, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Marisa Bartolomei, a University of Pennsylvania professor of cell and developmental biology, co-director of the university's Epigenetics Institute, and winner of the 2024 March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize, on discovering one of the first imprinted genes, making connections between imprinted gene mutations and developmental disorders, and uncovering the exact pathways of gene imprinting defects: namely, abnormalities in DNA methylation.

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