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/.