Education
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Ph.D., Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2014
University of Auckland, New Zealand
M.S., Health Sciences, 2009
University of Auckland, New Zealand
B.S., Biomedical Science, 2007
Research Interests
Priya Pantham received her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2014 under the direction of Larry Chamley. Her dissertation utilized an integrated –omics approach – transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics – to identify molecular mechanisms of increased placental death in response to antiphospholipid antibodies, a risk factor for the obstetric syndrome preeclampsia. She was a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus under the direction of Thomas Jansson and Theresa Powell from 2014 to 2016. Her research was focused on investigating the placental mechanisms of developmental origins of adult diseases, using a baboon model of maternal undernutrition, and primary human placental trophoblast culture techniques.
She became an IGB fellow in the Computing Genomes for Reproductive Health (CGRH) theme in May 2016, where she will use high-throughput approaches to test hypotheses and identify genes involved in the pathophysiology of major obstetrical syndromes, such as preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). Her research will also apply a comparative genomic approach to elucidate the evolution of the placenta, specifically in humans and nonhuman primates, in order to identify the placental causes of obstetrical disorders in an evolutionary context. This research will contribute to the theme’s long-term goal of creating predictive models that can be used to develop personalized medicine-based treatments and interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes in the short and long term.