9:35 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. | Reproductive system history in women with new heart failure – are we collecting the data?
Reproductive system history is associated with incident cardiovascular diseases. However, reproductive system history data may not always be available for clinical care or research. This presentation will discuss the congruence between participant-reported, structured, and unstructured reproductive system history data in females with newly diagnosed heart failure. Dr. Roberts Davis will also offer suggestions for strategies to improve including reproductive system history in clinical care and research.

Mary Roberts Davis, PhD, RN
BIRCWH Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU School of Nursing

9:55 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. | Sex differences in enrollment trends and participant characteristics in the INSITE study
The INSITE study is a prospective observational study of sex differences in patient-reported side effects of cancer immunotherapy. This presentation will discuss what we learned from examining sex differences in enrollment trends and participant characteristics of patients screened for the INSITE study.

Deanne Tibbitts, PhD, MCR
BIRCWH K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Division of Oncological Sciences, School of Medicine

11:20 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. | The forgotten organ: Using menstrual blood analysis to understand endometrial hemostasis
Uterine hemostasis during the menstrual cycle is a unique process as the endometrium must transition from a highly fibrinolytic to a pro-hemostatic environment over the course of 2-7 days of bleeding. While the mechanisms regulating this are poorly understood, cyclic variations in pro- and anti-coagulant factors have been demonstrated in endometrial fluid over the course of a menstrual cycle. Expression of these coagulation factors may differ in those with heavy menstrual bleeding. This research seeks to describe local and systemic changes in coagulation factors during menses in individuals with or without heavy menstrual bleeding.

Bethany Samuelson Bannow, MD, MCR
BIRCWH Scholar, Associate Professor
OHSU Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, School of Medicine

11:40 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. | The impact of paternal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure on pregnancy and development
Cannabis is the most commonly used federally illegal drug in the United States, especially among individuals of reproductive age. However, the impact of cannabis use on reproductive health is not well-studied. We seek to characterize the changes in oocytes and the early embryo following preconception exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main component of cannabis.

Rahul D’Mello, MD, PhD
Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

11:55 a.m. – 12:10 a.m. | Psychedelic use and healthcare engagement among reproductive-aged women
Psychedelic use is becoming increasingly common among women of reproductive age, often as a way to manage mental health, physical symptoms, and personal growth. Despite this trend, many women face barriers when seeking healthcare support, including stigma and a lack of provider knowledge about psychedelics. Understanding these patterns is critical to creating more inclusive, informed healthcare practices that address the needs of this growing population.

Adam Crosland, MD, MPH
Women’s Reproductive Health Research K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

1:05 PM – 1:20 PM | Modeling high androgens and IVF in a nonhuman primate model
Hormone therapy with testosterone critical for the health well-being of many transgender people, however the effects on fertility and fertility treatment outcomes are not well understood. This project seeks to model hyperandrogenemia and a non-human primate and study its affects on IVF developed embryos.

Elizabeth Rubin, MD, MCR 
Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

1:23 PM – 1:38 AM | Placental aging in maternal GDM: Exploring sex-specific effects
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a growing pregnancy complication that poses long-term health risks for mothers and their offspring. My work collectively investigates how GDM alters placental aging through the dysregulation of cellular senescence and mitochondrial function, with an emphasis on the trophoblast lineage. This work highlights the placenta as a critical mediator of fetal outcomes in GDM and provides insight into sex-specific mechanisms linking maternal metabolic disease to impaired placental function.

Leena Kadam, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

1:40 PM – 1:55 PM | Contraceptive progestins & breast health: To what extent does the androgenic progestin levonorgestrel induce an androgenic breast phenotype?
Epidemiologic studies suggest a connection between using hormonal contraception and breast cancer. Dr. Liberty presents preliminary findings and methods from a prospective human tissue cohort with robust reproductive health data.

Abigail Liberty, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

1:58 PM – 2:13 PM | Sex differences in metabolic outcomes in adult mice with developmental bisphenol A exposure
Exposure to the endocrine disrupting compound bisphenol A (BPA) is strongly correlated with risk for metabolic syndrome, but mechanistic evidence is limited. Dr. Boller will share new findings from a study examining metabolic outcomes and hepatic lipid deposition in adult mice following in-utero BPA exposure, and review proposed mechanisms for loss of female protection from development of metabolic syndrome following BPA exposure.  

Marie Boller, MD, FACOG
Fellow, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

2:15 PM – 2:30 PM | Genetic carrier status and odds of diminished ovarian reserve
Expanded carrier screening has become a near-ubiquitous tool in prenatal and infertility clinics alike over the last several years. Beyond its utility in preconception and prenatal counseling, ECS has also been proven to have meaningful implications for the health of intended parents. In this talk, I will review our team's work looking into correlations between genetic carrier status and diminished ovarian reserve as one approach to finding additional meaning in ECS as a clinical tool.

Marissa Palmor, MD, MBE
Fellow in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, PGY6
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine

Gender Differences in the Social Wellbeing of Veterans in the Year After a Suicide Attempt
This study aims to characterize gender differences in social wellbeing in the year after a suicide attempt to inform future research and suicide prevention practices tailored to Veteran women.
Authors:  Alexa Wright, BS & Sarah Shklanko, MPH

Sexual behavior and contraceptive use changes after gender-affirming testosterone
Gender-affirming hormone therapy with testosterone can influence sexual desire and behavior, potentially leading to changes in contraceptive need following initiation. We sought to compare changes in contraceptive use and unmet need in transgender individuals assigned female at birth after initiating testosterone.
Authors:  Scott Carter, MD; Elizabeth S. Rubin, MD, MCR; Lucy Ward, MS; Maureen K. Baldwin, MD, MPH

Honoring childhood autonomy in longitudinal developmental research: Best Practices, Applications, and Insights
We provide a comprehensive resource that may be used to encourage positive and respectful research experiences for children, which has potential to promote positive long-term outcomes for developing children and may have positive implications for data quality and retention.
Authors: Julia Wiliams; Amanda Howery; Olivia Lashley; Hanna Wright; Olivia Nomura; Eline Lenne; Elizabeth K. Wood; Hanna C. Gustafsson; Elinor L.

Sex and Violence
Violence, whether accidental or intentional, affects all humans but impacts sexes differently. This study examined Oregon Health Authority publicly available data on trauma, suicide, and homicide to identify sex-based trends.
Author:  Emma Deloughery, MD

Comparative Genomics of Lactobacillus Species Mucus Binding Proteins in the Bladder: Implications for Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection
Recent evidence confirms that the bladder harbors a distinct microbiome (urobiome) similar to the vaginal microbiome; however, the specific role of bladder Lactobacilli and their influence on rUTI remain largely unknown. We investigated the comparative genomics of previously sequenced bladder Lactobacillus isolates collected via transurethral catheterization from women with and without rUTI. We hypothesized that isolates from healthy controls would exhibit higher percentages of open reading frames encoding mucus-binding proteins than isolates from rUTI subjects, and that mucus-binding protein homology varies among Lactobacillus species.
Author: Keisha Harrison, PhD

Does Quantitative Microbiome Profiling Alter Interpretation of the Urinary Microbiome?
Microbiome research measurements include alpha (within-sample) and beta (between-sample) diversity measures, as well as differential abundance of individual bacteria. Often data are subsampled (rarefied) or transformed to relative abundance before analysis. This decreases the interpretability of the data between samples by ignoring microbial load and introduces compositionality- a change in one bacterium could be due to change in another bacterium within a sample. There have been efforts to address this compositional problem by incorporating microbial load in Quantitative Microbiome Profiling (QMP) which calculates absolute microbial abundance after quantifying the DNA from a sample either using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or flow cytometry. The data are adjusted to absolute microbial abundance based on the amount of bacterial DNA. QMP has not been thoroughly evaluated in studying the urinary microbiome. Here, we evaluate whether incorporating QMP alters interpretation of urinary microbiome data between post-menopausal women not using estrogen and pre-menopausal women.
Authors:  Charles Parker, BS; Christina Turner; Sean Davin; Benji Lamp; Keisha Harrison, PhD; Lisa Karstens, PhD 

Genetic Function and Dysregulation in 46, XY Differences of Sex Development
Fetal Reproductive Tract Development is a long and complicated process that relies on a variety of different genes, steroids, cell types, and signalling pathways. In individuals with a 46, XY karyotype, perturbations of these components at any number of developmental time points can lead to a wide spectrum of gonadal and genital phenotypes. Here, we use data from the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) Browser to present a list of 35 phenotypes related to differences of sex development (DSDs) in 46, XY individuals and the 269 unique genes currently associated with them.
Authors: Madison Held, BA; Helen Castillo-Madeen; Katinka Vigh-Conrad 

Helping Parents Feel Closer in the NICU: The Role of Bilateral Infant Stimulation
This study evaluated a novel bilateral alternating stimulation technique as a positive touch intervention for parents and neonates in the NICU. We examine its effects on parental distress and anxiety, perceptions of emotional closeness to their neonate, and parental feedback on the intervention.
Authors: Phyllis Hand, BA; Emily Garavatti; Cindy McEvoy; Naseeha Islam

Advanced maternal age contributes to sexually dimorphic offspring outcomes in a mouse model
Advanced maternal age (AMA) has many risk factors for adverse pregnancy, birth, and long-term offspring outcomes in humans including altered cardiometabolic function, need for cesarean section, and intrauterine growth restriction. Translating to a mouse model, we hypothesized that AMA offspring would display growth and metabolic changes observed in humans that could be linked to differences in placental development and prenatal growth trajectory. 
Authors: Gracelyn Fine, BS; Kiersey R. Nielsen; Lisa A. Vrooman

Unraveling the Impact of Advanced Maternal Age on Preimplantation Embryo Development
Infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) remain inefficient, with most embryo loss occurring during the peri-implantation period. A critical factor contributing to this inefficiency is advanced maternal age (AMA), which is associated with increased rates of aneuploidy that are often attributed to meiotic errors in aging oocytes. However, emerging evidence indicates that mitotic errors during early embryogenesis are equally or more prevalent and also contribute to developmental arrest. In this study, we utilized the rhesus macaque model to investigate the impact of AMA on preimplantation embryo development. 
Author: Jacqueline Budrewicz, BS

ENT-1 Targeted Polymersomes to Enhance the Efficacy of Methotrexate in Choriocarcinoma Treatment
Gestational choriocarcinoma (CC) is a rare and highly malignant cancer originating from the trophoblastic layers of the placenta. Currently, methotrexate (MTX) is the first-line treatment for CC; however, due to the aggressive and metastatic nature of CC, multiple doses are often required, leading to severe side effects from the lack of tumor specificity. This study introduces the first targeted MTX-loaded polymersomes (Ps) designed for efficient drug delivery to CC tumors. Modification of these Ps nanoplatforms with guanosine (Gn), which targets the ENT-1 transporter overexpressed in CC cells, significantly enhances tumor uptake.
Author: Ana Paula Mesquita Souza, MEng, BPharm

Systemically Administered Magnetic Nanocluster Hyperthermia: A Potential Therapeutic  Approach for Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy
Ruptured ectopic pregnancy (EP) is a serious medical condition in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tubes. EP accounts for approximately 2% of all pregnancies, with 98% of cases occurring in the fallopian tubes, and is a leading cause of maternal mortality during the first trimester. Due to nonspecific symptoms and frequent misdiagnosis, EP often requires emergency intervention. Current treatments, such as methotrexate (MTX) or surgery, are limited by delayed resolution and potential tissue loss. Magnetic hyperthermia, a widely studied modality for cancer therapy, offers spatially controlled, heat-induced cell ablation and may serve as a novel local treatment for EP. Here, we present a nanomedicine-based magnetic hyperthermia strategy for targeted, non-invasive treatment of EP. 
Authors: Karthickraja Duraisamy, PhD; Prem Singh; Shitaljit Kongbrailatpam; Akshay R  Vyawahare; Ana Paula Mesquita Souza; Oleh Taratula; Olena Taratula

Enhanced Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Response with High-Density IL-2 Nanoparticles in Ovarian and Breast Cancer Mouse Models
Respond rates to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICIs) have remained low in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Low response rates to ICIs are often associated with lack of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Interleukin-2 (IL-2) can effectively expand TILs but requires high doses due to its short half-life and preferential consumption by immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Treg), leading to severe toxicity and limited efficacy (~10-15% response rate). Many modified IL-2s reduce IL-2Rα binding on Treg, but fail to enhance IL-2Rβγ binding on CD8+ T cells. Additionally, tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells can upregulate IL-2Rα, suggesting wild-type IL-2 may be more effective. We utilized our nanoparticle platform (Pdx-NP™) for intratumoral IL-2 delivery. Pdx-NP™ loads high density of wild-type IL-2 (>6,000 molecules/particle) to enhance binding avidity toward IL-2Rβγ on CD8+ T cells compared to free IL-2. 
Authors: Ruijie Wang, BS; Pramod Kuma; Tongchatra Watcharawittayakul; Noah A. Crumrine; Alyssa Wallstrum; Moataz Reda; Worapol Ngamcherdtrakul; Wassana Yantasee

Enhanced Dual-Action Cancer Therapy: Synergizing Magnetic Hyperthermia with p53-Activating Staple Peptide
This study presents a dual-action cancer therapy combining p53-activating peptides with magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia. P53, the "guardian of the genome," normally prevents harmed cells from dividing and triggers apoptosis when damage is irreparable. The specific peptide can activate p53 by blocking its negative regulators (e.g., MDM2), allowing p53 to accumulate and induce cancer cell death. This effect can be further enhanced by the nanoparticle-mediated mild hyperthermia. We engineered magnetic nanoparticles with a 20 nm cobalt-doped iron oxide core, coated by polymers, linked via disulfide bond to a staple dual-function KD3 peptide that both targets cancer-specific integrins and activates tumor-suppressing p53.
Author: Kongbrailatpam Shitaljit Sharma, PhD 

Low-rates of placental pathology in a low-risk pregnancy cohort in the greater Portland, Oregon area
The placenta plays a critical role in pregnancy and neonatal health outcomes. Establishing normative placental histology in healthy pregnancies is important to avoid under- or over-diagnosis of pathologic findings. Limited reports describe the frequency and type of placental pathology in healthy pregnancies using histology. Assessing the role of contextual factors on placental pathology rates is critical to determining the generalizability of findings. We assessed placental histology in low-risk, healthy pregnancies from the greater Portland, Oregon metropolitan area to examine rates of pathologic findings (N=209 placentas; 50% male fetal sex; 71% White, non-Hispanic; mean maternal age: 32.7 +/- 4.2 years; mean gestational age (GA): 39.3 +/- 1.7 weeks). Participant pregravid BMI, delivery mode (vaginal vs. c-section), and fetal-placental ratio was also recorded.
Authors: Elizabeth Wood, PhD; Hanna Gustafsson; Terry Morgan, PhD; Elinor Sullivan, PhD; Jamie Lo, MD

Cost-Effectiveness of a High-Frequency Postpartum Care Model
The postpartum (PP) period is crucial for the health of both mothers and infants, necessitating comprehensive care. Traditional obstetrics care includes a routine postpartum follow-up visit at perhaps 2 to 6 weeks postpartum, but there is growing interest in exploring alternatives. A recent model which utilized Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) to provide more frequent PP visits was found to reduce both visits to the Emergency Department as well as hospital readmissions. The current study models the outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of more frequent postpartum care versus a traditional obstetric care approach.
Authors: Lamia Hauter, BA; James Cahill, BA; Sarah Dzubay, BS; Megha Arora, BS; Ava Mandelbaum, BA

Overview of Fibrosing Skin Disorders: Lichen Sclerosus, Morphea, & Systemic Sclerosis
Fibrosing skin disorders, including lichen sclerosus (LS), morphea, and systemic sclerosis (SSc), are chronic immune-mediated conditions marked by fibroblast activation and excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition that result in changes in the appearance and texture of skin. Despite their distinct clinical criteria, these conditions often share overlapping histopathological and dermoscopic features, complicating diagnosis and treatment. This review aims to elucidate the unique characteristics of these conditions by synthesizing current literature and dermoscopic insights.
Authors: Iksha Kumar BS; Kyra Diehl, BS; Maya Davis, BS; Angela Loczi-Storm, BS; Tayler Tobey, BS; Justin Ng, BS; Erin Foster, MD, PhD