Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Endocrinology, Fertility, Lancet, OBGYNE / 25.07.2023
Early Brigham Study Uses Stem Cells To Restore Ovarian Function
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_60669" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Anchan[/caption]
Raymond M. Anchan, MD, Ph.D.
Director, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Research Laboratory
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Obstetrics/Gynecology
Center for Infertility and Reproductive Surgery
Brigham and Women's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: As a reproductive endocrinologist, I have the privilege of caring for patients who unfortunately experience premature ovarian insufficiency- Some of these patients are as young as 17 yo. Additionally, a significant number of patients over the years have been reproductive age women who have breast cancer and ovarian failure from chemotherapy. These patients have been my inspiration to try to find a treatment for them. Since my earlier days as a neurobiologist and stem cell scientist, it was a natural course for me to seek cell-based therapies that are patient specific using autologous iPSCs.
Dr. Anchan[/caption]
Raymond M. Anchan, MD, Ph.D.
Director, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Research Laboratory
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Obstetrics/Gynecology
Center for Infertility and Reproductive Surgery
Brigham and Women's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: As a reproductive endocrinologist, I have the privilege of caring for patients who unfortunately experience premature ovarian insufficiency- Some of these patients are as young as 17 yo. Additionally, a significant number of patients over the years have been reproductive age women who have breast cancer and ovarian failure from chemotherapy. These patients have been my inspiration to try to find a treatment for them. Since my earlier days as a neurobiologist and stem cell scientist, it was a natural course for me to seek cell-based therapies that are patient specific using autologous iPSCs.
Dr. Callaghan[/caption]
Bridget Callaghan Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
UCLA
Dr. Callahan studies interactions between mental and physical health across development.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A growing body of evidence links the gut microbiome to brain and immune functioning, and changes to that community of microorganisms is likely among the ways that hardship affects children’s socioemotional development.
Limited evidence in humans has demonstrated the adversities experienced prenatally and during early life influence the composition of the gut microbiome, but no studies had examined whether stress experienced in a mother's own childhood could influence the microbiome of the next generation of children.
Kazi Albab Hussain[/caption]
Kazi Albab Hussain
Graduate Student (PhD)
Specialization: Water Resources
Advisor: Professor Yusong Li, PhD
Associate Dean for Faculty and Inclusion
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Microplastics have been detected in various food items and beverages, including table salt, bottled water, fish, and mussels. The extensive use of plastic-based products in food preparation, storage, and handling has raised concerns about the direct release of microplastics. Interestingly, we often discuss microplastics but overlook nanoplastics in the conversation. Due to their smaller size, nanoplastics are harder to be detected.
In our study, we wanted to see the release of both microplastics and nanoplastics, as nanoplastics may be even more toxic than microplastics.
Unfortunately, infants and toddlers are particularly vulnerable to the potential health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics. Studies have shown significant ingestion of these particles from polypropylene feeding bottles and silicone-rubber baby teats. We aimed to investigate the release of of micro- and nanoplastics, estimated their exposure for infants and toddlers, and evaluated their cytotoxicity to human embryonic kidney cells.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: I became interested in dog's sense of smell several years ago while doing therapy dog demonstrations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles during a special traveling exhibit "Dogs! A Science Tail." (Now at the Orlando Science Center). I did a lot of research on this topic and taught children about it through the Los Angeles Public Library using my Great Pyrenees therapy dogs. Then, COVID broke out and I expanded my research into any work being done to possibly utilize scent dogs for screening and testing for COVID. I found only a few such studies. However, I fortuitously met Heather Junqueira of BioScent, Inc. (in Florida) online and she was beginning to successfully teach her beagles to detect COVID-related odors. She agreed to co-author a peer-reviewed review paper with me. That led to our first paper -
Dickey, T, Junqueira, H. Toward the use of medical scent dogs for COVID-19 screening. J Osteopath Med 2021;1(2): 141-148. 
Dr. Davis[/caption]
Prof. Jonathan Davis, MD,
Chief of Newborn Medicine
Tufts Medical Center and
[caption id="attachment_60599" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Kruger[/caption]
Jessica Kruger PhD
Clinical Associate Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior
University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The 2018 Farm Bill authorizing hemp production led to new cannabinoids in the consumer marketplace. As the market becomes increasingly saturated with suppliers, companies continually diversify available products.
The rapid emergence of novel cannabinoids outpaces systematic research necessary to inform regulations and harm reduction. Empirical evidence is needed to guide policies, practices, and education of consumers. Product manufacturers, social media participants, and cannabis oriented on-line news sources have claimed that THC-O-acetate is a "psychedelic" cannabinoid, producing experiences similar to those associated with LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT.
Dr. Potnuru[/caption]
Paul Potnuru, MD
Assistant Professor
Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
The John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Dr. Fink[/caption]
Dorothy A. Fink, MD
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women's Health
Director, Office on Women's Health
US Department of Health & Human Services
Rockville, MD
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Delivery-related mortality in U.S. hospitals has decreased for all racial and ethnic groups, age groups, and modes of delivery while the prevalence of severe maternal mortality (SMM) increased for all patients, with higher rates for racial and ethnic minority patients of any age.
This study specifically looked at inpatient delivery-related outcomes and found a 57% decrease from 2008-2021. The decreasing mortality rates within the inpatient delivery setting demonstrated as statistically significant and a welcome finding for all women.
This study also looked with greater granularity at the impact of race, ethnicity, and age. Mortality for American Indian women decreased 92%, Asian women decreased 73%, Black women decreased 76%, Hispanic women decreased 60%, Pacific Islander women decreased 79%, and White women decreased 40% during the study period.
Valentina Paz[/caption]
Valentina Paz, M.Sc 
Dr. Ogedegbe[/caption]
Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH
Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Population Health
Director, Division of Health & Behavior
Director Center for Healthful Behavior Change
Department of Population Health
NYU Langone Health
NYU School of Medicine
Member of the 
Dr. Miller[/caption]
Alex P. Miller, PhD
TranSTAR T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Psychiatry
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, MO
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Adolescent cannabis use is increasing in the United States. Prior research suggests that people who start using cannabis earlier are more likely to engage in problematic use and also experience greater mental health challenges and socioeconomic disadvantages overall. For example, children who begin using cannabis early are more likely to have behavioral problems and disorders and are more less likely to complete school.
In our study, we used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which is following nearly 12,000 kids across the nation to track behavior and brain development as well as health from middle childhood to young adulthood. We looked at what factors are associated with the initiation of cannabis use by age 12-14.
Dr. Hafezi-Moghadam[/caption]
Ali Hafezi-Moghadam, Ph.D., M.D
Director, Molecular Biomarkers Nano-Imaging Laboratory (MBNI)
Associate Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: “It is very easy to answer many fundamental biological questions” said Richard Feynman in his 1959 address, where he also offered his simple and ingenious solution: “you just look at the thing!”
Dr. GALBIATI[/caption]
Francesca Galbiati, MD
Clinical/Research fellow in Endocrinology
Massachusetts General Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Arginine-vasopressin (AVP) is a neurohormone well known for its role in water balance regulation. It promotes renal water absorption in the kidney, to maintain normal sodium levels in the blood via a tightly controlled osmotic regulation. Besides AVP classical role, data have shown that AVP effects extend beyond water balance regulation. Animal studies have shown that AVP has metabolic effects, including reducing food intake, inducing lipolysis, and promoting muscle regeneration in male mice.
Furthermore, AVP is regulated differently in males and females, and affects cognition differently across sexes, a phenomenon called sexual dimorphism. However, it is unknown whether its dimorphism translates to metabolism. Also, findings on AVP metabolic role are inconsistent, possibly due to the opposing effects of AVP at different receptor subtypes, which regulation is still largely unknown. We performed this study to better investigate AVP metabolic role, and explore sex differences. We hypothesized that AVP would be positively associated with BMI, adiposity, and lean mass (acting as a signal of energy availability). We also predicted that relationships between AVP and body composition measures would differ by sex. We used the AVP area under the curve around a standardized meal to better capture repeated measures in response to food intake (that directly impacts energy availability). This also allowed to avoid the possible risk of fluctuating AVP levels due to possible pulsatile secretion.
Dr. Thomas[/caption]
Dr. Daniel Thomas MD PhD FRACP FRCPA
Program Leader, Blood Cancer
Precision Medicine Theme at the South Australia Health Medical Research Institute
Clinical Hematologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital
Associate Professor, Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly describe the condition of CMML?
Response: Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a rare, but increasingly frequent, clonal stem cell disorder that results in hyperproliferation of inflammatory monocytes, a form of white blood cells. It features both myelodysplasia and myeloproliferation. CMML is most often found in older adults and leads to anemia, decreased quality of life, and an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a cytokine that stimulates production, growth, differentiation, activation, and function of myeloid cells (monocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils). In the presence of RAS-pathway mutations, a greater sensitivity to GM-CSF contributes to the hyperproliferation of myelocytes in myelodysplastic leukemias such as CMML, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In CMML, greater sensitivity to GM-CSF stimulates excessive monocytic precursor proliferation.
The PREACH-M Trial, which stands for PREcision Approach to CHronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia, assesses the efficacy of lenzilumab in addition to azacitidine in treatment-naïve CMML participants with RAS-pathway mutations (KRAS, NRAS, CBL) and separately high dose ascorbate in participants with TET2 mutations who do not have RAS-pathway mutations. The study is currently underway and actively enrolling. It is being conducted and funded by the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). 
Dr. Kamath[/caption]
Dr. Suneel Kamath MD
Gastrointestinal Oncologist
Cleveland Clinic
Senior Author on this research
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Colorectal cancer rates in young people under age 50 are skyrocketing and have been for the last 3-4 decades. We really don’t understand why because most cases (probably around 70%) are not genetic or hereditary, just random, unfortunate events. We suspect that it is some exposure(s) like excess consumption of red meat, processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, excess antibiotic use altering the microbiome, rising incidence of obesity or some other factors. We really don’t know why yet.
Our study used a technology called metabolomics, the study of breakdown products and production building blocks for our bodies, to look for differences in colorectal cancer in young people versus people that are older that developed colorectal cancer. Because metabolomics measures how each individual interacts with the exposures in our environment like diet, air quality, etc., it is a way to bridge the gap between our nature (determined by genetics) and nurture (determined by our exposures).
Dr. Nowell[/caption]
W. Benjamin Nowell PhD
Director of Patient-Centered Research at Global Healthy Living Foundation
Columbia University in the City of New York