IFRB 2019 POINTS OF IN- TEREST: 2019, ISSUE 1 The IFRB was orga- nized in 1992 and is one of the largest Repro- ductive Biology Pro- New IFRB Faculty Spotlight grams in the US In 2019, the IFRB welcomed three new members, increases the risk of congenital heart defects. Membership includes 39 Drs. Linglin Xie, Kurt Zhang and A. Phillip West. Dr. Kurt Zhang is an Associate Professor in the faculty from 9 depart- Dr. Linglin Xie is an Center for Epigenetics and Disease Prevention at the ments, 4 colleges and 2 Associate Professor in Institute of Biosciences system components the Department of & Technology, Texas Nutrition and Food A&M University HSC. IFRB sponsored activi- Science who joined the He also holds a joint ties: 25th Annual R.O. Department in 2015 appointment in the Berry Lecture, 26 year She completed graduate Department of Nutri- old IFRB Repro Forum education at Huazhong tion and Food Science Seminar Series, 25th University of Science at Texas A&M Univer- Texas Forum on Repro- and Technology and a sity. He joined both ductive Sciences, An- M.D. degree from programs in 2018. nual IFRB Retreat Tongji Medical College. Dr. Zhang complet- Following completion of ed a B.S .in Biochemis- a M.S. in Human Nutri- try at Wuhan Universi- tion at Kansas State ty, China and complet- INSIDE THIS University, she earned a ed M.S .and Ph.D. de- ISSUE: Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology grees in Computational Biology and Statistics at Kansas and completed postdoctoral studies in Pediatrics at the State University. He was a Research Statistician at New IFRB Faculty 1 University of Chicago. Abbott Laboratories before joining the Pathology De- Spotlight The long-term goal of Dr. Xie’s research is to provide partment at the University of North Dakota and rose or promote strategies that achieve primal, primary and to the rank of Associate Professor before joining Texas IFRB Postdoc & 2 secondary prevention of obesity and its related metabol- A&M University Health Science Center. Dr. Zhang’s long-term goal is to decode genetic Member Spotlights 3 ic complications. It is now well established that in utero and in early life exposure to over-nutrition can disrupt events and molecular interactions of biological process- normal growth and development and thus increase the es, and rigorously represent the complex molecular IFRB Seminar 5 risk of offspring obesity. Therefore, development of a behaviors with mathematical models. He uses ad- Series healthy pre-pregnancy diet strategy, would be beneficial vanced high-throughput technology and robust stochas- tic models to obtain the systematic picture of a biologi- TFRS & Bazer 6 to improve pregnancy outcomes in obese women. Un- cal process. Multiple types of omics data, such as mi- Celebration fortunately, although women of childbearing age are suggested to modulate their BMI to a value within the croarray, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, lipidomics and prote- Trainee News 8 normal range before conception by engaging in lifestyle omics are collected through innovative study designs in changes, no evidence-based strategy regarding the opti- animals and humans, and are modeled for integrative IFRB Research 9 mal duration of the intervention is currently available. analysis. Using embryonic mouse as a model system, Snapshot Therefore, current work is focused on how different one of his current focuses is to untangle the spatial and maternal diet intervention before pregnancy would pre- dynamic gene-gene interaction networks during heart 25th Raymond O. 11 vent metabolic syndrome in adults. development, and illustrate how environmental factors Berry Lecture Dr. Xie is also interested in the molecular and genetic introduce adverse molecular changes and morphologi- basis of heart development and the ontology of congeni- cal defects. He is also investigating the transgeneration- Faculty Activities 14 tal heart disease (CHD). CHD is the most common type al epigenetic variations carried from overweight mother of birth defect that affects 1% live birth and accounts for to the offspring, and how the change of lifestyles would 13th Annual IFRB 20 1/3 of all birth defects. Her research has been focused prevent childhood obesity. Drs. Linglin Xie and Kurt Retreat & Faculty on understanding how important transcription factors Zhang are both well funded and currently serve as Transitions and signaling pathways for heart development such as multiple PIs on a NIH NIDDK R01 grant “A poly-omic Tbx5, Gata4 and Hh signaling networks in regulating the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying maternal inflow and outflow tract development. She is also inter- diet interventions for offspring obesity and NAFLD.” ested in understanding how maternal obesity or diabetes (continued on page 2) PAGE 2 IFRB New Faculty Spotlight (cont’d from page 1) Dr. A. Phillip West, is an Assis- and influence the pathobiology of mitochon- tant Professor of Microbial Pathogen- drial disorders and inflammatory diseases. esis and Immunology at the Texas 2) Modulation of Mitochondrial Function by A&M University Health Science Cen- Pathogens: Many viral and bacterial patho- ter. He joined the Department of gens target mitochondria to rewire cellu- Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunol- lar metabolism and interfere with innate ogy in 2016. He completed B.S de- immunity. Defining the microbial effector grees in Biological Sciences and Sci- mechanisms used to manipulate these orga- ence Education, both summa cum nelles could reveal new therapeutic avenues laude at North Carolina State Univer- to limit virulence and boost host immuni- sity and subsequently earned a Ph.D. ty. The lab is therefore collaborating with in Immunology at Yale University labs across campus to define how viral and 26th Texas Forum for followed by completion of a postdoc- bacterial pathogens alter mitochondrial func- Reproductive Sciences toral fellowship in Departments of tion and dynamics. (TFRS) Pathology and Genetics funded by 3) Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Melanoma: the American Society. Alterations in mitochondrial function and SAVE THE DATE Dr. West’s overall research inter- cellular metabolism have long been recog- ests are in the role of mitochondria in processes in- nized as hallmarks of cancer. Moreover, mitochondrial The Twenty-Sixth cluding energy generation, programmed cell death, genome instability has been observed in many aggressive TFRS meeting signal transduction, and immunity. Consequently, mi- cancers including melanoma, and recent reports indicate will be held on April tochondrial stress can drastically alter cell and tissue that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) dysfunction can engage 16-17 at the function and is increasingly implicated in aging and stress signaling responses to enhance tumor growth and MD Anderson Onstead diseases such as type 2 diabetes, neurodegeneration, invasion. The lab utilizes a physiologically relevant mouse Auditorium inflammatory disorders, and cancer. Research is fo- model of metastatic melanoma and patient-derived mela- cused in 3 major areas: noma cell lines to explore how mitochondrial stress and Thursday Plenary 1) Mitochondrial Control of Innate Immune Signaling: mtDNA instability influence the development and progres- Speaker, The innate immune system constitutes the first line of sion of this cancer. A particular interested is defining how Dr. Stephanie Pangas defense against pathogens, and mounting evidence mitochondrial dysfunction modulates innate and adaptive Associate Professor suggests that mitochondria are critical participants in immunity in the melanoma microenvironment to shape Baylor College of innate immunity. His lab is currently exploring the anti-tumor immune responses. Medicine signaling pathways linking mitochondria to innate im- Dr. West’s laboratory is funded by a HHV6 Foundation, Department of Path- munity, with the ultimate goal of characterizing how Dharam Ablashi Pilot Grant, a Cancer Prevention & Re- ology these pathways modulate host responses to pathogens search Institute of Texas grant and two DOD grants. Friday Plenary Speaker Dr. Swathi Arur Assiociate Professor, MD Anderson Cancer IFRB Postdoctoral Trainee Spotlight Center *Dr. Dr. Rebecca “Becky” Poole Department of Genet- Carolina State University under the joined Dr. Ky Pohler’s research ics mentorship of Dr. Daniel Poole (no group in July 2019. She received her Department of Veteri- relation). B.S. in Animal Science from North nary Physiology and Her Ph.D. research focused on the Carolina State University in 2014. She Pharmacology interaction between fescue toxicosis, then pursued her M.S. degree in Ani- a syndrome caused by chronic con- mal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia *** sumption of endophyte-infected tall Tech under the direction of Drs. fescue, and heat stress on reproduc- Michelle Rhoads and Kiho Lee. During tive performance, as well as investi- this time, she used a porcine model to gating various mitigation strategies to explore how high saturated fat and improve overall performance. Her fructose consumption facilitated obesi- research identified that by utilizing the ty-induced infertility. Through utiliza- slick hair trait (i.e. a mutation in the tion of an in vitro culture system, she prolactin receptor gene that improves observed a disruption in early embry- the thermoregulatory ability of affect- onic development, specifically occur- ed animals), this offset the heat stress ring at the at the 4-cell stage, which is related symptoms associated with indicative of cellular stress. Following fescue toxicosis and