Dr Nicolette Hodyl

Teaching Interests

PhD Opportunities: We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student who is interested in discovering how prenatal factors influence the development of the immune system. For further information, please see the attached file below or contact Dr Nicolette Hodyl (Nicolette.hodyl@adelaide.edu.au) or Dr Michael Stark (Michael.stark@adelaide.edu.au). 

Research Interests

My research seeks to identify the impact of common adverse exposures in pregnancies that contribute to altered fetal growth, aberrant immune development and adverse neonatal outcomes. My specific areas of interest are (i) the effects of feto-placental inflammation on fetal and neonatal development of the innate immune response; and (ii) the role of glucocorticoids in fetal immune development (particularly in response to pathophysiologic pregnancy). This research predominantly involves the study of preterm neonates.

In Australia, over 20,000 babies are born prematurely every year. Over 430 of these babies will die in the neonatal period, while another 15,000 will suffer neonatal and/or lifelong morbidity. As such, preterm birth represents a huge emotional and social burden to affected parents and families, as well as a large economic cost to Australia's public health care system. My broad research area seeks to identify factors that contribute to and compund these outcomes.

In the face of immunologic challenges, preterm neonates demonstrate clear weaknesses compared with adults. Recognition of in-utero events that compund the immaturity of the neonatal innate immune response is a prime focus of my research work. This work seeks to identify the cellular mechanisms that lead to an abberrant innate immune response following such exposures.

Research Funding

Thrasher Research Foundation (Early Career Award)
Women's and Children's Research Foundation
Colin Matthews Early Career Award
Faculty of Science Early Career Seed Funding

Publications

Journal Articles (Original Research) 

Hodyl NA, Stark MJ, Osei-Kumah A, Bowman M, Gibson P & Clifton VL (2011) Fetal glucocorticoid-regulated pathways are not affected by inhaled corticosteroid use for asthma during pregnancy. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 183(6) 716-22

Stark MJ, Hodyl NA, Wright IMR & Clifton VL (2011). The influence of sex and antenatal betamethasone exposure on vasoconstrictors and the preterm microvasculature. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, April 18 (Epub ahead of print)

 Scott NM, Hodyl NA, Osei-Kumah A, Stark MJ, Smith R & Clifton VL (2011). The presence of maternal asthma during pregnancy suppressed the placental pro-inflammatory response to an immune challenge in-vitro. Placenta, 32(6), 454-461

Hodyl NA, Wyper H, Osei-Kumah A, Scott N, Murphy VE, Gibson P, Smith R & Clifton VL. (2010). Sex-specific associations between cortisol and birth weight in pregnancies complicated by asthma are not due to differential glucocorticoid receptor expression. Thorax, 65(8), 677-83.

Hodyl NA, Walker FR, Krivanek KM, Clifton VL & Hodgson DM (2010). Prenatal endotoxin exposure alters behavioural pain responses to lipopolysaccharide in adult offspring. Physiology and Behavior, 100(2), 143-147.

Scott NM, Hodyl NA, Murphy VE, Osei-Kumah A, Wyper H, Hodgson DM, Smith R, Clifton VL (2009). Placental cytokine expression co-varies with maternal asthma severity and fetal sex. Journal of Immunology, 182 (3):1411-20.

Vu TT, Hirst JJ, Stark M, Wright IMR, Palliser H, Hodyl N & Clifton VL (2009). Changes in placental 5α reductase isoenzyme expression with advancing gestation: effects of fetal sex and glucocorticoid exposure. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 21(4), 599-607.

Walker RF, Hodyl NA & Hodgson DM. (2009) Neonatal bacterial endotoxin challenge interacts with stress in the adult male rat to modify KLH specific antibody production but not KLH stimulated ex-vivo cytokine release. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 15; 207(1-2):57-65.

Hodyl NA., Krivanek KM, Clifton VL & Hodgson DM (2008) Innate Immune Dysfunction in the Neonatal Rat following Prenatal Endotoxin Exposure. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 204 (1-2):126-30.

Hodyl NA., Krivanek KM, Seckold E., Clifton VL & Hodgson DM (2007) Prenatal exposure to a pro-inflammatory stimulus causes delays in immune maturation in the offspring. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 190 (1-2): 61-71.

Hodyl NA, Walker FR, Krivanek KM, Clifton V & Hodgson DM (2007). Modeling prenatal bacterial infection: Functional consequences of altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis development. Behavioural Brain Research, 178, 108-114.

Walker FR, Hodyl NA, Krivanek KM. & Hodgson DM (2006). Early life host–bacteria relations and development: Long-term individual differences in neuroimmune function following neonatal endotoxin challenge. Physiology and Behavior, 87(1), 126-134.

 

Journal Articles (Review)

Hodyl NA, Stark MJ, Osei-Kumah A & Clifton VL (in press). Prenatal programming of the innate immune response following in-utero exposure to inflammation: a sexually dimorphic process? Expert Reviews of Clinical Immunology

Osei-Kumah A, Hodyl N & Clifton VL. (2008) Proteomics in Asthma. Expert Review of Clinical Immunology, 4(6), 713-721.

 

Files

• Masters/PhD Information - PhD_Project.docx [14.8K] (application/octet-stream)

Entry last updated: Thursday, 28 Jul 2011