Dr. Yates' Stress Physiology Lab

Welcome to Dr. Yates' Stress Physiology Lab

We study metabolic fetal programming related to maternal stress, placental insufficiency, and intrauterine growth restriction. In humans and companion animals, IUGR-born individuals (~10% of all US-born babies; ~25% worldwide) are at much greater risk for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and other metabolic disorders that shorten life expectancy and reduced quality of life. In food animals, IUGR leads to less efficient growth and poorer carcass quality, which reduces the financial sustainability of meat animal production.

Our lab utilizes pregnant sheep and rodents as physiological models for humans and ruminant livestock species. We have developed research techniques to allow us to measure fetal physiological responses to maternal stress factors in real-time over the last trimester of pregnancy. In addition, we can study glucose metabolism in live animals, primary tissue samples, and cells cultures. A large factor in metabolic homeostasis is proper skeletal muscle growth, and we have developed ex vivo and in vitro protocols for measuring functional capacity of muscle stem cells, as well as microscopy and immunoblot techniques for determining muscle fiber dynamics.