Jennifer R. Wood

Jennifer R. Wood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received her BA in Microbiology at Indiana University (1992). She earned her M.S and Ph.D at the University of Illinois in the Integrative and Molecular Physiology Department. (1996, 2000). Post-doctoral work was performed at University of Pennsylvania Center for Research on Reproduction and Women’s Health under the direction of Jerome F. Straus III (2006). During this time Dr. Wood was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Investigator Award. After her post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Wood joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska Department of Animal Science (2006) and received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor (2012).In her current position, Dr. Wood studies the impact of metabolic dysfunction, primarily obesity, on ovarian and placental inflammation and oxidative stress. In ovarian somatic cells, the focus is how cytokines and reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate sex steroid and growth factor synthesis and secretion in both the follicular phase and after the LH surge. These studies are performed using a cow model of metabolic dysfunction and mouse models of obesity. Oocyte maturation, competence for fertilization, and subsequent preimplantation embryo development are assessed using mouse models of obesity or in vitro treatment of cumulus oocyte complexes with cytokines or ROS. This work has been funded by competitive collaborative grants from the USDA, NIH Dual Purpose for Dual Benefit, NICHD, the UNL foundation and the UNL Office of Research. This work has been disseminated through peer review publications (41), extension bulletins and newsletters (11), and invited talks (24). The talks include session speaker at the Southeast Lipid Research Conference, the 4th World Congress of Reproductive Biology and the SSR annual meeting. Dr. Wood also presented at the ASRM Pre-Congress course titled Germ Cell Environment and its Impact on Gamete Quality.