Research Projects

I am interested in understanding how societal inequalities can "get under the skin" and how stress from those experiences relates to pregnancy physiology.  My research has added to this work by evaluating how sociopolitical stressors (Wiley et al., 2023) and neighborhood perceptions (Chua and Knorr* et al., 2023) can influence maternal psychology. In turn, my collaborators and I have explored how psychological distress relates to immunological and inflammatory markers of pregnancy (Wiley et al. 2024).

While epidemiological studies consistently show that chronic psychosocial stress increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. I have characterized a biomolecular mechanism of stress embodiment through measuring placental changes through state-of-the-art biomolecular techniques (magnetic nanobeads with immune-affinity antibodies) to capture and quantify extracellular vesicles (“EV’s”; lipid-bound particles, released by placental cells, that mediate feto-maternal communication)  (Knorr et al., in prep). 

*sharing first authorship

Humans are unique in that we require additional social support during the perinatal period. 

My work supports the impact of maternal grandmothers as critical deliverers of support during pregnancy. I find that communication and emotional support from a pregnant individual's own mother (soon-to-be baby's maternal grandmother) moderates the psychological distress experienced by pregnant women (Knorr and Fox (2024). Positive relationship factors with maternal grandmothers during pregnancy are associated with reduced psychological distress and cortisol (Knorr and Fox, 2023; Fox et al., 2023); thus, extending "allomother" research to the vulnerable period of pregnancy. 

Currently, I am working on a large, collaborative NSF-funded project to investigate the energetic constraints of human gestation. We are testing whether the high energy demands of pregnancy, combined with intense physical activity, can push individuals beyond a previously proposed metabolic ceiling for humans, and if approaching this proposed ceiling affects birth outcomes (Sadhir et al., in prep). 

The existence of a metabolic ceiling limiting pregnancy expenditure holds important implications for humans’ evolved life history and for supporting fetal and maternal health. An energetic limit also implies trade-offs in maternal physiology, and we aim to investigate whether physical activity in highly active mothers leads to reductions in immune markers or other physiological processes.