Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé

University of Chicago | UC · Department of Surgery

Perinatal mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are highly prevalent and can have severe consequences on maternal morbidity and mortality, and on infant neurodevelopment. Yet, the biological mechanisms of these disorders are underexplored, especially in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations. Here, we aim to i...

Background Perinatal depression is one of the most common medical complications during pregnancy and postpartum period, affecting 10% to 20% of pregnant individuals, with higher rates among Black and Latina women who are also less likely to be diagnosed and treated. Machine learning (ML) models based on electronic medical records (EMRs) have effect...

Many kidney transplant recipients continue to experience high symptom burden despite restoration of kidney function. High symptom burden is a significant driver of quality of life. In the post-transplant setting, high symptom burden has been linked to negative outcomes including medication non-adherence, allograft rejection, graft loss, and even mo...

Pregnancy alters many physiological systems, including the maternal gut microbiota. Diet is a key regulator of this system and can alter the host immune system to promote inflammation. Multiple perinatal disorders have been associated with inflammation, maternal metabolic alterations, and gut microbial dysbiosis, including gestational diabetes mell...

Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is defined as a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) in individuals younger than 50 years of age. While overall CRC rates in the United States (US) decreased between 2001 and 2018, EOCRC rates have increased. This research project aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Time-Restricted Eating (TRE...

Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is defined as a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) in individuals younger than 50 years of age. While overall CRC rates in the United States (US) decreased between 2001 and 2018, EOCRC rates have increased. This research project aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Time-Restricted Eating (TRE...

Background: Pregnancy alters many physiological systems, including the maternal gut microbiota. Diet is a key regulator of this system and can alter host inflammation. Multiple perinatal disorders have been associated with inflammation, maternal metabolic alterations, and gut microbiota dysbiosis, including gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclamps...

Background: Prenatal depression affects ∼12% of pregnant women in the U.S. and it is associated with an increased risk of adverse birth outcomes and maternal mortality. Adherence to a healthy dietary pattern may reduce and/or protect against depressive symptoms. Objective: To investigate the relationship between adherence to a Mediterranean diet...

African American adults have a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) than non-Hispanic Whites. The impact of a Mediterranean Diet (Med Diet) and intentional weight loss (IWL) on the gut microbiome may alter AD risk. A post hoc analysis of the Building Research in Diet and Cognition (BRIDGE) trial was performed to determine whether particip...

Perinatal depression (PND) is one of the most common medical complications during pregnancy and postpartum period, affecting 10-20% of pregnant individuals. Black and Latina women have higher rates of PND, yet they are less likely to be diagnosed and receive treatment. Machine learning (ML) models based on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have bee...

Perinatal perceived stress can contribute to worse health outcomes for the parent–child dyad. Given the emerging relationship between the microbiota-gut-brain axis and stress, this study sought to elucidate connections between bowel symptoms and the gut microbiome in relation to perceived stress at three time points in the perinatal period: two dur...

Those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia, have a gut microbiome distinct from healthy individuals, but this has only been shown in healthy individuals, not in those exhibiting several risk factors for dementia. Using amplicon 16S rRNA gene sequencing in a case-control study of 60 older (ages 55–76), obese, predominately f...

Background Among all racial/ethnic groups, people who identify as African American/Blacks have the second highest colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence in the USA. This disparity may exist because African American/Blacks, compared to other racial/ethnic groups, have a higher prevalence of risk factors for CRC, including obesity, low fiber consumption,...

Although we have effective treatments for depression and anxiety, we lack mechanistic understanding or evidence-based strategies to tailor these treatments in the context of major comorbidities such as obesity. The current feasibility study uses functional neuroimaging and biospecimen data to determine if changes in inflammatory markers, fecal shor...

Background: The microbiome-gut-brain-axis (MGBA) is emerging as an important mechanistic link between diet and mental health. The role of significant modifiers of the MGBA, including gut microbial metabolites and systemic inflammation, in individuals comorbid with obesity and mental disorders, is under-investigated. Objectives: This exploratory...

Obesity is considered an independent risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). Altered nutrient metabolism, particularly changes to digestion and intestinal absorption, may play an important role in the development of CRC. Iron can promote the formation of tissue-damaging and immune-modulating reactive oxygen species. We conducted a crossover, contr...

Higher stress during pregnancy associates with negative outcomes and elevated inflammation. The gut microbiota, reflecting environment and social interactions, alongside host immune responses have the potential to better understand perceived stress and identify when stress is excessive in pregnancy. Two U.S. cohorts of 84 pregnant individuals, comp...

In vitro ovarian follicle culture is an active area of research towards providing fertility options for survivors of childhood cancer. Late-stage murine follicles (multilayer secondary and onwards) can be cultured successfully to maturity to obtain a meiotically competent oocyte for fertilization, but primordial and primary follicles usually die in...

Reliably producing a competent oocyte entails a deeper comprehension of ovarian follicle maturation, a very complex process that includes meiotic maturation of the female gamete, the oocyte, together with the mitotic divisions of the hormone-producing somatic cells. In this report, we investigate murine ovarian folliculogenesis in vivo using public...

Background The maturation of the female germ cell, the oocyte, requires the synthesis and storing of all the necessary metabolites to support multiple divisions after fertilization. Oocyte maturation is only possible in the presence of surrounding, diverse, and changing layers of somatic cells. Our understanding of metabolic interactions between th...

Reliably producing a competent oocyte entails a deeper comprehension of ovarian follicle maturation, a very complex process that includes meiotic maturation of the female gamete, the oocyte, together with the mitotic divisions of the hormone-producing somatic cells. In this report, we investigate mice ovarian folliculogenesis in vivo using publical...

Multiple aspects of the local extracellular environment profoundly affect cell phenotype and function. Physical and chemical cues in the environment trigger intracellular signaling cascades that ultimately activate transcription factors (TFs) - powerful regulators of the cell phenotype. TRACER (TRanscriptional Activity CEll aRrays) was employed for...

Breast cancer onset and disease progression have been linked to members of the TGFβ superfamily and their downstream signaling components, the Smads. Alterations in Smad3 signaling are associated with the dichotomous role of TGFβ in malignancy, mediating both tumor suppressant and pro-metastatic behaviors. Overexpression of cell cycle regulators, c...

Tissue development and disease progression are multi-stage processes controlled by an evolving set of key regulatory factors, and identifying these factors necessitates a dynamic analysis spanning relevant time scales. Current omics approaches depend on incomplete biological databases to identify critical cellular processes. Herein, we present TRAC...

The in vitro growth of ovarian follicles is an emerging technology for fertility preservation. Various strategies support the culture of secondary and multilayer follicles from various species including mice, non-human primate, and human; however, the culture of early stage (primary and primordial) follicles, which are more abundant in the ovary an...

A method for the purification of aromatic polyether polymers prepared by a halide displacement polymerization process comprises adsorbing the catalyst with an alkali metal halide to form an adsorbent component and then removing the adsorbent component. Mixtures resulting from this method are also discussed.

Identifying the dynamic activity of critical signaling pathways that lead to a given phenotype and inferring the relationships between those critical signaling pathways are still challenges for the systems biology community. In this work we present a new alternative. Our lab has recently established a technique for large-scale analysis of dynamic s...

The rigidity and density of adhesion sites of cell culture substrates strongly influences cell phenotype and gene expression. Interactions between integrin receptors and the substrate mediate these phenomena at the cell membrane, but previous studies have focused on a limited number of intracellular signals that relay these physical cues to the nuc...

A method for the purification of aromatic polyether polymers prepared by a halide displacement polymerization process comprises adsorbing the catalyst with an alkali metal halide to form an adsorbent component and then removing the adsorbent component. Mixtures resulting from this method are also discussed.

Live-cell assays to measure cellular function performed within 3D cultures have the potential to elucidate the underlying processes behind disease progression and tissue formation. Cells cultured in 3D interact and remodel their microenvironment and can develop into complex structures. We have developed a transcription factor (TF) activity array th...

In vitro follicle growth has emerged as a technology that can provide new information about folliculogenesis and serve as part of a suite of methods currently under development to assist women whose fertility is threatened by cancer treatments. Though it has been shown that in vitro-grown follicles secrete peptide and steroid hormones, much of the...

Context: A previous genome-wide association study in Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) identified a region on chromosome 2p16.3 encoding the LH/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) and FSH receptor (FSHR) genes as a reproducible PCOS susceptibility locus. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the role of the LHC...

Despite the current wealth of high-throughput data, our understanding of signal transduction is still incomplete. Mathematical modeling can be a tool to gain an insight into such processes. Detailed biochemical modeling provides deep understanding, but does not scale well above relatively a few proteins. In contrast, logic modeling can be used wher...

The microenviroment contributes to directing mammary epithelial cell (MEC) development and the progression of breast cancer. Three-dimensional culture models have been used to support formation of structures that display varying degrees of disorganization that parallel the degree of cancer. Synthetic hydrogels were employed to investigate the mecha...

Background: Ovarian follicle development is a very complex process. The advent of three-dimensional in vitro follicle culture systems has assisted in understanding the multitude of biochemical, cellular and morphological cues involved. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying normal follicle development, we identified genes expresse...

Identifying molecular mechanisms or therapeutic targets is typically based on large-scale cellular analysis that measures the abundance of mRNA or protein; however, abundance does not necessarily correlate with activity. We report a method for direct large-scale quantification of active pathways that employs a cellular array with parallel gene deli...

Euclidian clustering of large-scale array data. Means of log2 transformed normalized TF activities from three replicates across three arrays were clustered. Data are denoted as described in Fig. S1. Replicates within arrays clustered together, indicating data could be blocked by array. (0.04 MB DOC)

TF reporters used in large-scale transfected cell arrays. (0.05 MB DOC)

Box plot of replicates from large-scale arrays. Means of log2 transformed normalized TF activities from three replicates across three arrays are shown. ‘1.1’ denotes array 1, replicate 1 and ‘2.3’ denotes array 2, replicate 3, etc. Means and standard deviations were consistent within arrays, with some variability between arrays. No outliers were pr...

Pairwise comparisons of replicates from large-scale arrays. Means of log2 transformed normalized TF activities from three replicates across three arrays were compared. The correlation factor is represented in the bottom right corner of each graph. Comparisons within arrays showed good correlation (R2>0.96), and correlations across arrays were weake...

Extracellular activation of signal transduction pathways and their downstream target transcription factors (TFs) are critical regulators of cellular processes and tissue development. The intracellular signaling network is complex, and techniques that quantify the activities of numerous pathways and connect their activities to the resulting phenotyp...