Kristin Gerson
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Preterm birth is the leading cause of illness and death in newborns worldwide, and the reasons it begins early are still poorly understood. One common step on the way is premature cervical remodeling, when the cervix softens and shortens too soon.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
preterm birth
cervical remodeling
short cervix
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Determine how the polyamines spermidine and spermine modify immune responses in the cervicovaginal space, including inflammasome activation, NF-κB-driven immune mediators, macrophage differentiation and epithelial-immune signaling, using in vitro cell models.
- Determine how polyamines regulate oxidative balance in cervicovaginal cells by measuring lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzyme expression and DNA and protein damage, and test whether this balance shapes immune responses.
- Quantify associations between vaginal polyamines, lipid peroxidation markers and short cervix in an ongoing pregnancy cohort to assess links to cervical remodeling and preterm birth.
More about the research
This happens partly because the protective lining of the cervix and vagina stops working as a barrier. The make-up of vaginal bacteria matters too: a microbiota low in Lactobacillus bacteria is linked to higher risk. Yet many people with this microbiota still deliver at term.
Why it matters
Spontaneous preterm birth harms newborns worldwide, and doctors have limited ways to prevent it. If vaginal polyamines protect the cervix, this work could support polyamine-based "postbiotic" treatments, which use beneficial metabolites rather than live microbes, to lower preterm birth risk in pregnant people. Because inflammation and oxidative stress contribute to many reproductive problems, the findings may also help reproductive health beyond pregnancy.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Corrie Miller
University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether women who deliver preterm have more Lactobacillus iners or anaerobic bacteria in mid-pregnancy vaginal swabs, using 16S sequencing to identify bacteria and to assign community state types (common bacterial patterns).
Shannon Gillespie
Ohio State University, OH·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether a prenatal immunomonitoring algorithm, based on immune function in early-pregnancy blood samples, predicts spontaneous preterm birth in a large, diverse cohort of singleton pregnancies.
Erica Clinkenbeard
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Physiology
Test whether low iron weakens bone formation in CKD by reducing spermine, by giving spermine during iron deficiency to cultured bone-building cells (osteoblasts) and to mice with adenine diet-induced kidney failure.
The school
University of Pennsylvania: 90 labs on PI Pages, $2.2B a year on research, 750 research doctorates a year.
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