Molecular Developmental Biology Program,
Division of Human Genetics
Louis Muglia, MD PhD is President and CEO of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, an independent nonprofit research foundation accelerating discovery in the biomedical sciences. Previously, he served as Vice Chair for Research, Director of the Division of Human Genetics, Co-Director of the Perinatal Institute, and Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The goal of the Muglia laboratory has been to understand the molecular machinery comprising the biological clock that determines the timing for birth, and how this is shaped by the environment, to prevent or better treat human preterm labor and delivery utilizing genetic and comparative genomic approaches.
Among Dr. Muglia’s achievements are more than 280 publications and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. In 2010, Dr. Muglia was elected to Fellow in the American Association for the advancement of Science. In 2013, Dr. Muglia was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine and in 2020, to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Dr. Muglia has served as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NICHD at the NIH.
Dr. Muglia earned his Doctor of Medicine (1988) and Doctor of Philosophy (1986) degrees from the University of Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in biophysics from the University of Michigan in 1981.
Male risk taking, female odors, and the role of estrogen receptors.
Physiology & behavior Dec, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22472459
Behavioral Studies and Genetic Alterations in Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) Neurocircuitry: Insights into Human Psychiatric Disorders.
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) Jun, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 23077729
Site-specific modulation of brain glucocorticoid receptor and corticotropin-releasing hormone expression using lentiviral vectors.
Molecular and cellular endocrinology May, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23261985
Fetal programming and environmental exposures: implications for prenatal care and preterm birth.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Dec, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 23278645
Maternal coding variants in complement receptor 1 and spontaneous idiopathic preterm birth.
Human genetics Aug, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23591632
Amniotic fluid: the use of high-dimensional biology to understand fetal well-being.
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Jan, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 23599373
Adjunctive therapies to cerclage for the prevention of preterm birth: a systematic review.
Obstetrics and gynecology international , 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23606847
The genomics of preterm birth: from animal models to human studies.
Genome medicine , 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23673148
Sequence variants in oxytocin pathway genes and preterm birth: a candidate gene association study.
BMC medical genetics Jul, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23889750
Disrupting hypothalamic glucocorticoid receptors causes HPA axis hyperactivity and excess adiposity.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.) Oct, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23979842
Fine-mapping an association of FSHR with preterm birth in a Finnish population.
PloS one , 2013 | Pubmed ID: 24205076
Influenza vaccine in pregnancy: policy and research strategies.
Lancet (London, England) May, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24814446
Rictor/mTORC2 facilitates central regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis.
Molecular metabolism Jul, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24944899
Dissection of glucocorticoid receptor-mediated inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by gene targeting in mice.
Frontiers in neuroendocrinology Jan, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25256348
50 years ago in the Journal of Pediatrics: The epidemiology of prematurity.
The Journal of pediatrics Dec, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25458949
Influence of interpregnancy interval on neonatal morbidity.
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology Mar, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25460837
Genomics of preterm birth.
Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25646385
Detecting endogenous retrovirus-driven tissue-specific gene transcription.
Genome biology and evolution Mar, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25767249
Air pollution and stillbirth risk: exposure to airborne particulate matter during pregnancy is associated with fetal death.
PloS one , 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25794052
Ontogeny of hypothalamic glucocorticoid receptor-mediated inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in mice.
Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) , 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26068518
Genetic Approaches to Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Regulation.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26189452
CXCR3 Polymorphism and Expression Associate with Spontaneous Preterm Birth.
Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26209629
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is associated with structural and vascular placental abnormalities and leptin dysregulation.
Placenta Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26278057
Assessing the Causal Relationship of Maternal Height on Birth Size and Gestational Age at Birth: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.
PLoS medicine Aug, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26284790
Enhancing Pediatric Fellows' Research Training: Development of an Office of Pediatric Clinical Fellowships.
The Journal of pediatrics Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26319916
The genetics of preterm birth: Progress and promise.
Seminars in perinatology Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26459968
Systems biology evaluation of cell-free amniotic fluid transcriptome of term and preterm infants to detect fetal maturity.
BMC medical genomics Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26493725
GEneSTATION 1.0: a synthetic resource of diverse evolutionary and functional genomic data for studying the evolution of pregnancy-associated tissues and phenotypes.
Nucleic acids research Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26567549
Ambient Temperature and the Risk of Preterm Birth in Guangzhou, China (2001-2011).
Environmental health perspectives 07, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26672059
Racial disparity in previable birth.
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology Mar, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26721776
Exposure to airborne particulate matter during pregnancy is associated with preterm birth: a population-based cohort study.
Environmental health : a global access science source Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26768419
Evolutionary triangulation: informing genetic association studies with evolutionary evidence.
BioData mining , 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27042214
Comparing human and macaque placental transcriptomes to disentangle preterm birth pathology from gestational age effects.
Placenta 05, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27208410
Recurrence of Preterm Birth and Early Term Birth.
Obstetrics and gynecology 08, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27400000
Infant Mortality, Cause of Death, and Vital Records Reporting in Ohio, United States.
Maternal and child health journal 04, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27456308
Racial Differences in the Influence of Interpregnancy Interval on Fetal Growth.
Maternal and child health journal 03, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27475828
Effect of Modifiable Risk Factors on Preterm Birth: A Population Based-Cohort.
Maternal and child health journal 04, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27485494
Literature-Informed Analysis of a Genome-Wide Association Study of Gestational Age in Norwegian Women and Children Suggests Involvement of Inflammatory Pathways.
PloS one , 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27490719
Comparing oxytocin and cortisol regulation in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, hydrocortisone challenge pilot study in children with autism and typical development.
Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders , 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27540420
Finding lost genes in GWAS via integrative-omics analysis reveals novel sub-networks associated with preterm birth.
Human molecular genetics 12, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27664809
Infant mortality in coroner/medical examiner investigations.
Journal of forensic and legal medicine Nov, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27769017
Evaluation of Fellows' CrossTalk Effectiveness in Promoting Transdisciplinary Networking and Research.
The Journal of pediatrics 02, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27839701
Introduction to evolutionary genomic approaches to human disease.
Applied & translational genomics Dec, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 27896053
Signatures of natural selection on genetic variants affecting complex human traits.
Applied & translational genomics Dec, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 27896059
The influence of interpregnancy interval on infant mortality.
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 03, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28034653
Single-cell transcriptomics of the human placenta: inferring the cell communication network of the maternal-fetal interface.
Genome research 03, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28174237
Time-Variant Genetic Effects as a Cause for Preterm Birth: Insights from a Population of Maternal Cousins in Sweden.
G3 (Bethesda, Md.) 04, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28250013
Risk of preterm birth by maternal age at first and second pregnancy and race/ethnicity.
Journal of perinatal medicine Jul, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 28455952
Combined sewer overflow events and childhood emergency department visits: A case-crossover study.
The Science of the total environment Dec, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28732397
Bleeding during pregnancy is associated with familial preterm birth.
The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians Jan, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 28835134
Genome-wide association study of bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a potential role for variants near the CRP gene.
Scientific reports Aug, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28839172
Genetic Associations with Gestational Duration and Spontaneous Preterm Birth.
The New England journal of medicine 09, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28877031
Evolutionarily derived networks to inform disease pathways.
Genetic epidemiology 12, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28944497
Inhibition of IRAK1 Ubiquitination Determines Glucocorticoid Sensitivity for TLR9-Induced Inflammation in Macrophages.
Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 11, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 29038250
Comparative transcriptomic analysis of human placentae at term and preterm delivery.
Biology of reproduction 01, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29228154
Genetic Associations with Spontaneous Preterm Birth.
The New England journal of medicine 12, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 29236637
Periconception Exposure to Air Pollution and Risk of Congenital Malformations.
The Journal of pediatrics 02, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29237538
Loss of Intercalated Cells (ITCs) in the Mouse Amygdala of Mutants Correlates with Fear, Depression, and Social Interaction Phenotypes.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 01, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29255003
Implementation of a Regional Perinatal Data Repository from Clinical and Billing Records.
Maternal and child health journal 04, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29275460
Inverted formin 2 regulates intracellular trafficking, placentation, and pregnancy outcome.
eLife 01, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29309034
Genome-wide association study of offspring birth weight in 86 577 women identifies five novel loci and highlights maternal genetic effects that are independent of fetal genetics.
Human molecular genetics 02, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29309628
A genome-wide association study identifies only two ancestry specific variants associated with spontaneous preterm birth.
Scientific reports 01, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29317701
Preterm Birth and Gestational Length in Four Race-Nativity Groups, Including Somali Americans.
Obstetrics and gynecology 02, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29324604
Natural Selection Has Differentiated the Progesterone Receptor among Human Populations.
American journal of human genetics Jul, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29937092
Whole exome sequencing reveals HSPA1L as a genetic risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth.
PLoS genetics 07, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 30001343
Genetic studies of gestational duration and preterm birth.
Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology Oct, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 30007778
Anthropoid primate-specific retroviral element THE1B controls expression of CRH in placenta and alters gestation length.
PLoS biology 09, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 30231016
Spontaneous premature birth as a target of genomic research.
Pediatric research 03, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30353040
Uterine distention as a factor in birth timing: retrospective nationwide cohort study in Sweden.
BMJ open 10, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 30385442
Previous Adverse Outcome of Term Pregnancy and Risk of Preterm Birth in Subsequent Pregnancy.
Maternal and child health journal Apr, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30539421
Author Correction: Enabling precision medicine in neonatology, an integrated repository for preterm birth research.
Scientific data 12, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 30563979
Trimester specific PM exposure and fetal growth in Ohio, 2007-2010.
Environmental research 04, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30660917
Hyperadrenocorticism of calorie restriction contributes to its anti-inflammatory action in mice.
Aging cell 06, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30938024
Enzymatic Activity of HPGD in Treg Cells Suppresses Tconv Cells to Maintain Adipose Tissue Homeostasis and Prevent Metabolic Dysfunction.
Immunity 05, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31027998
Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors.
Nature genetics 05, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31043758
Risk of spontaneous preterm birth and fetal growth associates with fetal SLIT2.
PLoS genetics 06, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31194736
Network as a Biomarker: A Novel Network-Based Sparse Bayesian Machine for Pathway-Driven Drug Response Prediction.
Genes 08, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31405013
Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration.
Nature communications 09, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31477735
Peptide/Receptor Co-evolution Explains the Lipolytic Function of the Neuropeptide TLQP-21.
Cell reports Sep, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31484069
Eutherian-Specific Gene TRIML2 Attenuates Inflammation in the Evolution of Placentation.
Molecular biology and evolution 02, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 31633784
Unique transcriptomic landscapes identified in idiopathic spontaneous and infection related preterm births compared to normal term births.
PloS one , 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31703110
Early pregnancy loss in 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase knockout (15-HPGD) mice due to requirement for embryo 15-HPGD activity.
Scientific reports 11, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31772225
Health Advantages and Disparities in Preterm Birth Among Immigrants Despite Disparate Sociodemographic, Behavioral, and Maternal Risk Factors in San Diego, California.
Maternal and child health journal Feb, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 31838667
Maternal dietary selenium intake is associated with increased gestational length and decreased risk of preterm delivery.
The British journal of nutrition 01, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 31865927
Chronic psychosocial stress during pregnancy affects maternal behavior and neuroendocrine function and modulates hypothalamic CRH and nuclear steroid receptor expression.
Translational psychiatry 01, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32066677
IRAK1 Is a Critical Mediator of Inflammation-Induced Preterm Birth.
Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 05, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32238461
Model-Informed Bayesian Estimation Improves the Prediction of Morphine Exposure in Neonates and Infants.
Therapeutic drug monitoring 10, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32427759
Importance of the environment for gestational duration variability and correlation between relatives - results from the Medical Swedish Birth Registry, 1973-2012.
PloS one , 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32706811
Accounting for diverse evolutionary forces reveals mosaic patterns of selection on human preterm birth loci.
Nature communications 07, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32709900
Dissecting maternal and fetal genetic effects underlying the associations between maternal phenotypes, birth outcomes, and adult phenotypes: A mendelian-randomization and haplotype-based genetic score analysis in 10,734 mother-infant pairs.
PLoS medicine 08, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32841251
Changes in data management contribute to temporal variation in gestational duration distribution in the Swedish Medical Birth Registry.
PloS one , 2020 | Pubmed ID: 33156833
Transcriptome and regulatory maps of decidua-derived stromal cells inform gene discovery in preterm birth.
Science advances Dec, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 33268355
Autozygosity mapping and time-to-spontaneous delivery in Norwegian parent-offspring trios.
Human molecular genetics 02, 2021 | Pubmed ID: 33291140
Maternal Dietary Selenium Intake during Pregnancy Is Associated with Higher Birth Weight and Lower Risk of Small for Gestational Age Births in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.
Nutrients Dec, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 33374667
Developing a theoretical evolutionary framework to solve the mystery of parturition initiation.
eLife 12, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 33380346
Maternal high-fat-diet exposure is associated with elevated blood pressure and sustained increased leptin levels through epigenetic memory in offspring.
Scientific reports 01, 2021 | Pubmed ID: 33431976
Baby's best Foe-riend: Endogenous retroviruses and the evolution of eutherian reproduction.
Placenta Feb, 2021 | Pubmed ID: 33685754
1Molecular Developmental Biology Program, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center,
2Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center,
3Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine,
4Division of Veterinary Services, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center