Many obese individuals have type 2 diabetes and do not know it, so it is a good idea to bring glucose levels to within the normal range before becoming pregnant, and to monitor women with pre-diabetes closely during pregnancy to make sure that they don't develop diabetes. |
Until recently, it was not understood how diabetic pregnancy could cause birth defects. My laboratory wanted to explore this research because the more we know about the effects of the mother's diabetes on the embryo, the more tools we have to identify therapies that may prevent birth defects in diabetic pregnancy. |
We're trying to pinpoint all the steps that occur between oxygen deprivation and gene expression, and to identify the signals and molecules that regulate Pax3. |