How does the brain change through pregnancy and post-partum? What factors determine if the common “Baby Blues” phenomenon progresses to debilitating post-partum depression? Can we predict if someone will develop post-partum depression? In this deeply philosophical and pivotal episode, the season 2 premiere of the Know Brainer Podcast, Dr. Natalia Chechko shares with us her research on maternal brain changes through life. Using multiple methodologies, combining neuroimaging, measuring biomarkers, behavioral analysis, and applying Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning approaches to understand these complex datasets, Dr. Chechko demystifies the maternal brain and discusses the evolutionary drivers for the changes in maternal brains. Over two episodes, Dr. Chechko also discusses ways to support women through pregnancy to minimize the likelihood of post-partum depression.

--------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Natalia Chechko is a Tenured W2- Professor of Experimental Neuropsychiatry at the RWTH University Hospital Aachen. Her expertise is in Neuropsychobiology, specifically, in the changes that happen in maternal brains through menstruation, pregnancy, and post-partum. She has published extensively on this historically understudied topic, and her research has expanded our understanding of the risk factors leading upto post-partum depression and the structural and functional brain alterations during these processes. She additionally has expertise in olfactory and chemosensory mechanisms of social communication.

Dr. Chechko received a degree in journalism from Lomonosov University in Moscow, Russia, followed by a graduate degree in Human Medicine from Johannes Guttenberg University Mainz, in Germany. She has since served as a professor, research team leader, and senior physician. She has also supervised several students in their careers.

You can find her publications here: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9226-6196

--------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Jaya Viswanathan is a neuroscientist, author, and artist born and raised in India. She earned an engineering degree, a Master’s in neuroscience, and a Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience. After her post-doctoral fellowship, she deepened her neuroscientific expertise as a contractor at the National Institutes of Health. She is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine working in translational neuroscience to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias.

She illustrated and wrote the first of its kind children’s neuroscience book, Baby Senses: A Sensory Neuroscience Primer for All Ages to convey complex scientific concepts through art and whimsy in terms of sensory “superpowers”. She has been interviewed on written, audio/podcasts, and video platforms where she makes neuroscience accessible to lay audiences. Tune into her podcast “Know Brainer” and other projects through which she disseminates science via https://babysensesbook.com/.

How can we deepen our connection with our bodies with neuroscientific tools? In this conversation with Dr. Whitney McFadden, we delve deeply into somatic therapy, a critically important emerging area of study in medicine. Using her knowledge of cellular and genetic neuroscience coupled with deep insight into hormone cycles, Dr. McFadden approaches her clinical practice with a vision towards improving the lives of patients holistically. Tune in to thisessential episode to learn more about how to use tools from somatic therapy to embrace the signals and wisdom from our bodies. Over two episodes, Dr. McFadden shares her expertise in clinical practice to address complex disorders, the insights from which will enrich your mind-body connection.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Whitney McFadden started her career with deep admiration for her father, a passionate psychiatrist, who instilled in her a love for biology and the joy of a fulfilling career. She delved into molecular and cell biology with an emphasis on neurobiology at University of California Berkeley and later pursued medical education to University of Calfornia San Diego. Driven by a research passion, she completed psychiatry residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City alongside a deep study of neuroscience, studying brain cells, schiozphrenia genetics. After graduating, she worked at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Genetics with Dr. George Church studying genetics and schizophrenia and brain organoids. Intruiged by women's psychiatry, she began to explore reproductive mental health, hormone health, and treatments in the nervous system. She immersed herself in these fields notonly for her personal healing, but also to make a profound impact on those around her. Her sister created her ownbusiness and inspired her to create her own practice that included innovations in mental health. After seeing patients transform their own lives with these innovations, she saw a huge opportunity to share this with women committed to living their life healthy, powerfully, and passionately.

You can learn more about Dr. McFadden and contact her through: ⁠https://willowmindhealth.com/⁠ .

-------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Jaya Viswanathan is a neuroscientist, author, andartist born and raised in India. She earned an engineering degree, a Master’s in neuroscience, and a Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience. She was inspired to illustrate and write Baby Senses: A Sensory Neuroscience Primer for All Ages to convey complex scientific concepts through art and whimsy in terms of sensory “superpowers”. She has been interviewed on written, audio/podcasts, and video platforms where she makes neuroscience accessible to lay audiences. Tune into her podcast “Know Brainer” and other projects through which she disseminates science via ⁠https://babysensesbook.com/⁠ .

How can we quantify changes in biology using rigorous, reliable and reproducible methodologies? In this conversation with Dr. Paul R. Territo, we delve deep into this critical aspect of neuroscience research. Changes in biology are caused by endogenous (eg., due to growth/ aging/ disease) or exogenous (eg., due to exposures/ pharmaceuticals) factors. Dr. Territo explains these complex processes and the approaches his team uses to measurethese changes to develop reliable ‘biomarkers’ to measure these changes. Tune in to this informative episode that is fundamental to research and development of therapeutics. Over two episodes, Dr. Territo deconstructs the complexity ofbiomarker development and will deepen your understanding of biology more holistically.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Territo received his Bachelors (1991) and Masters (1993) from California Polytechnic University, in Pomona CA, and his Ph.D. in 1996 from UNLV. During his postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), he received medical retraining and in the areas of noninvasive imaging technology and biophysics, which included Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). From that time forward, his research has focused on the development and application of imaging technologies to study disease progression, and evaluate the role of novel therapeutics on physiologicalprocesses. Leveraging these experiences, from 2001 to 2008, Dr. Territo as part of Eli Lilly’s drug discovery team developed novel imaging based biomarkers for therapeutic development in neuroscience, oncology, and cardiovascular disease. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Territo joined the faculty of Indiana University School of Medicine in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, where served as the Director of the Preclinical Imaging Core. Over this interval, Dr.Territo continued to develop novel imaging-based biomarkers for both preclinical and clinical assessment. In 2016, Dr. Territo began his independent laboratory focusing his research on developing state-of-the-art biomarkers formonitoring disease progression and then leveraging these for assessing therapeutic response for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD). Learn more about Dr. Territo via: https://medicine.iu.edu/faculty/6529/territo-paul Contact Dr. Territo through: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-territo-696226a/

-------------------------------------------------------------------Dr. Jaya Viswanathan is a neuroscientist, author, andartist born and raised in India. She earned an engineering degree, a Master’s in neuroscience, and a Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience. Since her post-doctoral fellowship, she continues to deepen her neuroscientific expertise as a contractor at the National Institutes of Health. She was inspired to illustrate and write Baby Senses: A Sensory Neuroscience Primer for All Ages to convey complex scientific concepts through art and whimsy in terms of sensory “superpowers”. She has been interviewed on written, audio/podcasts, and video platforms where she makes neuroscience accessible to lay audiences. Tune into her podcast “Know Brainer” and other projects through which she disseminates science via https://babysensesbook.com/.