MODCAST
MODCAST is a podcast on the most impactful maternal and infant health research conducted today. MODCAST aims to bring scientists, doctors, donors, and families behind the laboratory doors for a fascinating look into the science that is changing, study by study, the story of moms and babies in the U.S. From interviews and news analysis to study discussions and more, MODCAST is the science community’s source for today’s preeminent research on moms and babies.
Listen today.
Episodes
22 episodes
Dr. Phillip Bennett on Testing Probiotics to Reduce Preterm Birth Risk: A New Clinical Trial
Dr. Phillip Bennett, a co-director of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Imperial College London, discusses a historic randomized controlled trial (RCT) that will test a vaginal probiotic's ability to reduce preterm birth risk.
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41:13
Dr. Jamie Lo and Dr. Adam Crosland on Substance Use in Pregnancy
Dr. Jamie Lo, an Associate Professor at Oregon Health & Science University, and Dr. Adam Crosland, an Assistant Professor at Oregon Health & Science University, discuss the risks of substance use, particularly cannabis, in pregnancy.
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51:38
Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun on the Discovery of microRNA and More
Winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun give a rare, extended joint interview about the road that led them to their discovery of miRNA in a roundworm, Dr. Ruvkun’s later discovery of miRNA...
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1:32:14
Dr. Emre Seli and Jonathan Cherry on the 2024 Year in (Research) Review
March of Dimes Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Emre Seli and March of Dimes Senior Director of Research Operations Jonathan Cherry look back on MODCAST since its launch, and look forward to episodes in 2025.
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44:59
Dr. Sam Mesiano on the Enzyme Discovery that Could Revive Progesterone Therapy for Preterm Birth
Dr. Sam Mesiano, an investigator at the March of Dimes Ohio Collaborative Prematurity Research Center, discusses the enzyme that leads to progesterone withdrawal and labor in cases of infection-related preterm birth - and how this enzyme discov...
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1:17:50
Dr. Alexiane Decout and Dr. David MacIntyre on the Protective Power of a Good Vaginal Microbiome
Dr. Alexiane Decout, an assistant professor in immunology at the University of Warwick, and Dr. David MacIntyre, one of the directors of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Imperial College London, discuss the biological advantage...
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1:04:37
Jonathan Cherry on March of Dimes Research Grants and Awards
March of Dimes Senior Director of Research Operations Jonathan Cherry on March of Dimes research grants and awards.
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57:48
Dr. Sarah England and Dr. Nima Aghaeepour on How Sleep and Movement May Lower Preterm Birth Risk
Dr. Nima Aghaeepour, an investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford, and Dr. Sarah England, the director of the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine, discuss a new Ar...
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Episode 15
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38:20
March of Dimes' 2024 Basil O'Connor Award Winners Dr. Enninga and Dr. Murray Horwitz on Cell Free (cf) Fetal DNA as Labor Trigger, Barriers to Postpartum Heart Health
The 2024 winners of the March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards, Dr. Elizabeth Enninga and Dr. Mara Murray Horwitz, discuss their areas of study. Dr. Enninga, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Immu...
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Episode 14
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1:03:20
Dr. Alan Flake on the Artificial Womb, Fetal Surgery, and Stem Cell Therapy
Dr. Alan Flake, the Director of the Center for Fetal Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and 2021 March of Dimes Prize recipient, discusses the most impactful pursuits of his career: fetal surgery, the artificial womb, and in ut...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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57:31
Dr. Brice Gaudillière on Separating the Signal from the Noise: A Novel Biomarker Identification Model for Preterm Birth and Preeclampsia
Dr. Brice Gaudillière, an investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, discusses a breakthrough Machine Learning (ML) algorithm that makes reliable predictions about labor onset, preterm birth, and pree...
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Episode 13
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1:02:28
Dr. Marisa Bartolomei on Imprinted Genes, Epigenetic Mutations and Developmental Disorders
Dr. Marisa Bartolomei, a University of Pennsylvania professor of cell and developmental biology, co-director of the university's Epigenetics Institute, and winner of the 2024 March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize, on discovering one...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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36:50
Dr. Jonas Miller on Unlocking the Connection of Maternal Stress and Child Brain Function
Former Stanford PRC collaborator Dr. Jonas Miller, now a Psychological Sciences Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, discusses how the stress a woman experiences before pregnancy is associated with the way her child's brain fun...
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44:00
Dr. Tim Hand on Breastmilk Antibodies and Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)
Dr. Tim Hand, a March of Dimes researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, discusses the link between breast milk and a life-threatening preterm birth-related condition called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). As it turns out, not all breast mil...
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45:31
March of Dimes President Dr. Elizabeth Cherot on the Innovation Fund
Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, the 6th and current President and CEO of March of Dimes, and the first medical doctor to lead the organization since its founding in 1938, discusses the March of Dimes Innovation Fund.
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Season 1
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46:54
Dr. Lynne Sykes on Understanding the Links Between Vaginal Microbiome and Preterm Birth
Dr. Lynne Sykes, a co-director of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Imperial College London, discusses the immune cascade that triggers vaginal microbiome-driven preterm birth and a new vaginal supplement that could change the m...
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31:37
Dr. Jay Greenspan and Dr. Liz Foglia on Hot Topics in Neonatology 2023 Conference Preview
Philadelphia neonatologists Dr. Jay Greenspan and Dr. Liz Foglia discuss three talks at the upcoming Hot Topics in Neonatology conference in Maryland: one on the lower limits of viability and the other two on racism in the NICU.
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42:58
Dr. Nima Aghaeepour on Predicting Neonatal Complications with Machine Learning (AI)
Dr. Nima Aghaeepour, a researcher at March of Dimes' Prematurity Research Center at Stanford, discusses a Machine Learning (ML) model that predicts prematurity-related newborn diseases weeks before they occur, including before a baby is even bo...
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34:46
Prof. David MacIntyre on Microbiome, Inflammation and Targeted Diagnostics for Preterm Birth Risk
Prof. MacIntyre, one of the directors of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Imperial College London, discusses his team's new device that can, in under two minutes, identify the type of bacteria in a woman's vaginal microbiome an...
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54:16
Dr. Mira Moufarrej on Predicting Preeclampsia so We Can Prevent It
Stanford University Science Fellow Dr. Mira Moufarrej on what we know about preeclampsia, why Black women in the U.S. are disproportionately impacted and a new blood test that could identify at-risk women in the first trimester.
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31:01
Dr. Marina Sirota et al. on Big Data Analysis and Preterm Birth Risk Prediction
Dr. Marina Sirota, principal investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues Dr. Tomiko Oskotsky and Dr. Jonathan Golob discuss using big data to launch a DREAM Challe...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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35:03
