Biology Students Examine Impact of Prenatal Stress

Bor-Shuen Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor; Anastajia Melika ’26; Kaela Collazo ’25; Mandy Bhagwandeen ’25; and Pamela Lovejoy, Ph.D., assistant professor.

St. Joseph’s University, New York students Anastajia Melika ’26 and donor funded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) recipient Kaela Collazo ’25 partnered with Bor-Shuen Wang, Ph.D., last summer to examine how prenatal stress impacts behavior.

“My fascination with the ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate has been a driving force in my research career,” explained Dr. Wang, who teaches biology at the Brooklyn Campus.

Dr. Wang’s research focused on how environmental factors shape the development of our visual systems. He was all set to continue this research at SJNY, but it was a conversation with former biology student Emily Burroughs that shifted his focus in what Dr. Wang describes as “a surprising and exciting direction.”

“Emily sparked my interest in the effects of prenatal stress on offspring,” he shared. “I was intrigued by the existing research showing that stress during pregnancy can influence the brain and behavior of children, potentially increasing the risk of conditions like autism, anxiety and depression.”

When bringing the idea of this research to his students, Dr. Wang was excited by their response.

“Their enthusiasm for exploring how stress impacts behavior has been inspiring,” he said. “It’s amazing to see how student curiosity and passion can shape and drive research, and I’m excited to see where their interests will take us next.”

Ms. Melika researched the impact of prenatal circadian stress on anxiety and learning, while Ms. Collazo explored the biological mechanisms linking prenatal stress to anxiety-like behavior.

“My favorite part of the research was working with fruit flies and observing their behavior under the presence of stress or with no stress,” said Ms. Melika, a biology major. “Fruit flies share many similarities with human physiology, so seeing how they behaved gave me insight into how humans may be affected under similar conditions.”

Ms. Collazo, a senior biology major, shared that she enjoyed the brainstorming aspect of the research.

“As an aspiring physician, teamwork is crucial when it comes to providing care to patients,” she said. “Most importantly, there are times where things might not stick according to plan. And this is okay! What matters is being able to critically think and communicate with your team.”

So far, here’s what the research team has found:

• Behavioral Observations: Collazo’s research indicates that the flies exposed to prenatal stress exhibit hyperactive behaviors. Stressed flies travel greater distances and move at higher speeds compared to their non-stressed counterparts. These hyperactive traits resemble symptoms of ADHD in humans.
• Learning Abilities: Their research found no significant impact of prenatal stress on the flies’ ability to learn.
• Stress Resistance: Melika found that prenatally stressed flies seem to have a lower tolerance to starvation, meaning they tend to die more easily when deprived of food. This suggests that while prenatal stress may not affect learning, it could reduce the flies’ overall resilience to stress.

The researchers hope to present their research at conferences and have it published, too.