UOHUniversity of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center · Physiology
Maternal Health and Metabolism Lab
Karen R Jonscher · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Research Focus
Dr. Karen R Jonscher's lab focuses on understanding how maternal obesity affects the health of offspring, particularly in relation to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Her research uses a unique model of olive baboons to study the impact of maternal diet and supplements, such as pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), on fetal development and metabolic health. The goal is to find safe dietary strategies to prevent metabolic diseases that can occur in children born to obese mothers.
maternal obesitynonalcoholic fatty liver diseasepyrroloquinoline quinonefetal programmingdietary antioxidants
Research Aims
3AIM 01Evaluate the effects of PQQ on maternal gut microbiome function during obesity.
AIM 02Investigate how PQQ supplementation impacts placental inflammation and nutrient transport.
AIM 03Assess the influence of maternal PQQ on the epigenetic programming of fetal liver and bone marrow.
Skills the Lab Values
animal handlingdietary interventionsbiochemical assaysgenomic sequencingmicrobiome analysisdata analysisinflammation assayscell culturePCRimmunohistochemistry
Output against the department
Publications83bottom 20% of dept.228th of 286
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations3.3kbottom 27% of dept.210th of 286
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.