Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Fetal Programming and Later Life Vulnerabilities: From Basic Science to Clinical Research

Dr. Joanne Weinberg is Professor and Distinguished University Scholar, Emerita, in the Dept of Cellular & Physiological Sciences. She is also an Associate Member of the Department of Psychology, the Center for Brain Health, and WHRI.

Joanne’s research expertise is in the area of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), stress, and neuroendocrine-neuroimmune regulation, with a specific focus on mechanisms underlying prenatal alcohol effects on fetal programming. Her studies have demonstrated that alcohol, in addition to its teratogenic effects, is an early life insult that programs developing neurobiological systems, including neuroendocrine and immune systems, resulting in increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal or stress system tone, hyperresponsiveness to stressors, and a pro-inflammatory bias. Together, these alterations increase risk for diseases/disorders over the life course, the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” (DOHaD) concept.

In her research, Joanne has developed rodent models to examine brain-biology-behavior relationships from prenatal life through adulthood, utilizing a broad multidisciplinary approach to tackle problems from the molecular to the behavioral level. Her recent studies have translated findings from the animal to human populations. These studies have elucidated a link between maternal alcohol consumption, inflammation, alcohol exposure of the fetus, and child outcomes. Current research is examining health, immune function, and adaptive and functional outcomes in children from birth through adulthood who were exposed to alcohol in utero.