Mount Sinai Experts to Present New Research at 71th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation

Researchers available for interview about their new studies and other women’s health topics

(New York, NY – May 5, 2024) – Reproductive health experts from the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will present research at the 71th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) in Vancouver, Canada from March 12-16. The doctors and researchers are available for interview about their findings; they can also provide commentary on other women’s health and female biology topics, breaking news, and studies.

PRESENTATIONS and POSTER SESSIONS

(*All abstracts are under embargo until the below listed times*)

Friday, March 15, 2024
9:00 -11:00 a.m. PT (12:00-2:00 p.m. ET)
Revealing the complexity of immunobiological shifts from non-pregnant to pregnant state
Poster Session II Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level – East
Presenter: Chelsea A, DeBolt, MD, Assistant Professor in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai
• Significant immunological shifts, systemically and at the maternal-fetal interface, are required for a successful pregnancy. As immune perturbations are emerging as pivotal drivers of adverse maternal health, explaining how normal pregnancy alters maternal immunity is imperative. This study performed RNA sequencing in individuals prior to pregnancy and again at 16-24 weeks’ gestation, for a comparison analysis of expressed genes. The researchers examined the same individual transitioning from a non-pregnant to pregnant state, to reveal intricate immune modulation including changes in inflammatory mechanisms and immune cell dynamics. There future work will investigate these shifts to discern which ones may result in increased maternal health risks (i.e. infection) or promote increased vulnerability (i.e. obesity) to adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Saturday, March 16, 2024
9:30 -11:30 a.m. PT (12:30-2:30 p.m. ET)
Non-Lactobacillus-Dominated Communities Are Associated with an Increase in Muc5 Production in Pregnant Individuals
Poster Session III
Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level – East
Presenter: Andrea Joseph, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Spontaneous preterm birth has been consistently associated with a vaginal microbial community state type marked by absence of a dominant Lactobacillus species and high diversity of bacterial anaerobes. While mucus is part of the vaginal ecosystem, the interplay between microbial community, mucus production, and spontaneous preterm birth is not well understood. This study explores how cervicovaginal mucins respond to vaginal community state types and over gestation. Understanding shifts in mucus production and composition to vaginal microbes will provide further insight into the mechanisms contributing to microbiome-mediated adverse outcomes, they said, and may reveal new therapeutic targets in the female reproductive tract.

9:30 -11:30 a.m. PT (12:30-2:30 p.m. ET)
Gardnerella vaginalis and Mobiluncus mulieris Induce a Pro-Inflammatory Response in Macrophages
Poster Session III
Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level – East
Presenter: Jake Robinson, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• A non-lactobacillus cervicovaginal microbiome has been associated with adverse reproductive outcomes including sexually transmitted infections, bacterial vaginosis, infertility, and preterm birth. This study assesses how host interactions with live bacteria, its supernatant and secreted bacterial extracellular vesicles, regulate resident immune cells. The researchers also uncover how vaginal microbes—associated with adverse reproductive outcomes—can directly impact immune responses from macrophages, including gene expression in the macrophages that signal a transcriptomic shift to an activated state.

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT (2:45-3:00 p.m. ET)
O-128: Extracellular Vesicles from Cervicovaginal Microbes Induced Immune Responses in Endometrial Cells
Concurrent Oral Presentations IV, Gynecology III
Location: Meeting Room 2/3, Meeting Level – East
Presenter: Yu Hasegawa, PhD, Research Scientist in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Although the uterus is typically sterile, the migration of motile microbes from the cervicovaginal space can induce inflammation and infection, leading to uterine pathologies. Also, cervicovaginal anaerobes produce extracellular vesicles that are likely to traffic to the uterine and trigger immune responses. However, host-microbe interaction in the uterine is limited. In this study, the researchers assessed how vaginal microbes and their by-products could induce immune responses in endometrial cells. The study explains how host-microbe interactions in the female reproductive tract will provide more understanding of microbe-mediated adverse pregnancy outcomes (i.e. infections) and may reveal new therapeutic targets.

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