Nipun Saini, PhD
Assistant Professor of Nutrition
nipun_saini@unc.edu
704-250-5065
Dr. Saini’s research interest is to understand the metabolic adaptations that occur in the mother and fetus to support a healthy pregnancy, and how maladaptation to stressors such as alcohol, malnutrition, obesity, and diabetes impairs fetal growth and brain development. Eventually, she would like to translate this mechanistic understanding to the development of nutrition-based interventions for at-risk pregnancies.
Her current research uses animal models and studies the metabolic dysregulations and changes in macronutrient utilization in maternal-fetal dyad in alcohol-exposed pregnancies, and the consequences of this disruption on fetal outcomes, and long-term offspring health. She finds that alcohol limits the availability of maternal glucose to the fetus by reducing maternal blood glucose pools and prevents maternal adaptation to acquire pregnancy-mediated insulin resistance. She further finds that alcohol promotes glucose to fatty acids conversion in the mother and causes fatty liver of pregnancy, which limits fetal glucose availability and contributes to impaired fetal development. Her research fills a gap and creates a niche in an important, but neglected area of prenatal alcohol research, wherein maternal metabolism is a driver and contributes to fetal impairments. This work is supported by K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). She also received 2022 Postdoctoral award for research excellence (PARE) sponsored by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, UNC Chapel Hill for her work. Dr. Saini earned her PhD in Biochemistry from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2015.
Nipun Saini, PhD: 2022 PARE Award Recipient
Reposted from UNC Research. Each year, the Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence (PARE) are given in recognition of the research promise demonstrated by individual postdoctoral scholars. . . . The PARE awards are open to postdoctoral scholars in all disciplines...
NRI Congratulates First-time First-Authors
December 12, 2019 – Agatha Christie once said, “the first time you do a thing is always exciting.” Well, we’ve had a lot of excitement at the Nutrition Research Institute recently! Two members of the Smith Lab are celebrating becoming first-time first-authors of scientific journal publications.
Why Iron Man’s mother didn’t drink alcohol during pregnancy
November 27, 2017 -In the Marvel movie Iron Man, Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a genius inventor who creates a suit of armor, giving himself enhanced strength and the ability to fly. Although Tony Stark carries the name “Iron Man” for his suit of metal armor, his name is also an apt description of the abundance of iron that he has in his body, especially in his brain. The human body requires iron to function normally, and without enough iron, adults feel fatigued and have difficulty concentrating. Iron is even more essential during pregnancy. If Tony Stark’s mother had not consumed enough iron during pregnancy, it is unlikely that he would have become a brilliant inventor, because iron is necessary for the proper development of the infant’s brain.