Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Contact, publication, and social network information about Harvard faculty and fellows.

Elvira Isganaitis, M.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture

Biography
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaMD, CM05/2001Medicine
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MAMPH05/2002Quantitative Methods
UCSF, San Francisco, CA06/2005Pediatrics Residency
Mass. General Hospital for Children, Boston, MA08/2008Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship

Mentoring
Available: 01/01/25, Expires: 12/31/25

Background information about the research area: Breastfeeding is associated with lower childhood obesity risk, but the specific compounds within human milk that are responsible for its beneficial effects are not clear. Our clinical research team has identified metabolites and lipids in human milk that may play a role in activation of infant brown fat, a specialized type of adipose tissue that dissipates energy as heat. Our studies suggest that maternal exercise may upregulate these beneficial milk components. We are now doing follow-up studies to better understand (1) upstream maternal factors that influence human milk composition, and (2) whether differences in human milk composition lead to detectable differences in infant brown adipose tissue development, using novel techniques such as thermography and MRI. Student role: - Analysis of existing datasets that include high-resolution metabolomics, lipidomics, and transcriptomics of human milk, paired with clinical and demographic data on mothers and infants. Student would gain experience with biostatistics and bioinformatics, data analysis, manuscript preparation. - Exposure to clinical and translational studies involving mother-infant pairs. This may be of interest to studies considering pediatrics, maternal-fetal medicine, obstetrics, or public health. - Opportunities for lab-based assays to identify additional compounds in human milk, and potentially cell culture experiments to test functional impacts of human milk components.


Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
  1. U01DK134996 (ISGANAITIS, ELVIRA MARIE) Mar 10, 2023 - Jan 31, 2029
    NIH
    Understanding, Predicting and Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in Youth, Boston Clinical Center (UPP Study)
    Role: Principal Investigator
  2. R21HD091974 (PATTI, MARY E) Dec 30, 2017 - Nov 30, 2020
    NIH
    Impact of Metabolic Health in Type 2 Diabetes on Sperm Epigenetic Marks in Humans: A Novel Intergenerational Mechanism for Metabolic Disease Risk Transmission
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  3. R00HD064793 (ISGANAITIS, ELVIRA MARIE) Sep 30, 2010 - Nov 30, 2015
    NIH
    Pathways of Mother to Child Transmission of Metabolic Risk
    Role: Principal Investigator
  4. K99HD064793 (ISGANAITIS, ELVIRA MARIE) Sep 30, 2010 - Nov 30, 2012
    NIH
    Elucidating adiposity in a mouse model of prenatal undernutrition
    Role: Principal Investigator

Bibliographic
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Updating...
This operation might take several minutes to complete. Please do not close your browser.
Local representatives can answer questions about the Profiles website or help with editing a profile or issues with profile data. For assistance with this profile: HMS/HSDM faculty should contact contactcatalyst.harvard.edu. For faculty or fellow appointment updates and changes, please ask your appointing department to contact HMS. For fellow personal and demographic information, contact HMS Human Resources at human_resourceshms.harvard.edu. For faculty personal and demographic information, contact HMS Office for Faculty Affairs at facappthms.harvard.edu.
Isganaitis's Networks
Click the
Explore
buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
Concepts (222)
Explore
_
Co-Authors (31)
Explore
_
Similar People (60)
Explore
_
Same Department 
Explore
_
Physical Neighbors
_
Funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, grant number UL1TR002541.