Leena Kadam
Biography
Dr. Kadam earned her Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology from Wayne State University School of Medicine. She is a placental molecular biologist with extensive experience working in the field across rodent, mice and human models of investigation.
Her research focuses on understanding human placental development and its dysregulation in pregnancy disorders, particularly gestational diabetes (GDM), by investigating how cellular senescence pathways and mitochondrial dysfunction influence trophoblast differentiation. Additionally, the group is also exploring the long-term impacts of pregnancy complications on maternal health an progression to diabetes post GDM. With collaborators from Oregon State University, the group is also working on developing nanoparticle-based targeted therapeutic technologies for placental and pregnancy disorders.
Selected publications
Kadam L, Chan K, Tawater E, Myatt L. Dysregulation of placental mitochondrial structure dynamics and clearance in maternal obesity and gestational diabetes. Placenta. 2025 Oct 1;171:140-149. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2025.09.019. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41046581.
Newell LF, Holtan SG, Kadam L, Bagby GC, Myatt L. Placental growth factor enhances inflammatory toll-like receptor responses in syncytiotrophoblasts. Placenta. 2025 Aug;168:9-18. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2025.05.023. Epub 2025 May 24. PMID: 40451093.
Kadam L, Chan K, Ahuna K, Marshall N, Myatt L. Differential activation of p53-Lamin A/C and p16-RB mediated senescence pathways in trophoblast from pregnancies complicated by type A2 Gestational Diabetes Mellitus. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Mar 6:2025.03.04.641461. doi: 10.1101/2025.03.04.641461. PMID: 40093078; PMCID: PMC11908226.
Veličković M, Kadam L, Kim J, Zemaitis KJ, Veličković D, Gao Y, Wu R, Fillmore TL, Orton D, Williams SM, Monroe ME, Moore RJ, Piehowski PD, Bramer LM, Myatt L, Burnum-Johnson KE. Advanced multi-modal mass spectrometry imaging reveals functional differences of placental villous compartments at microscale resolution. Nat Commun. 2025 Feb 28;16(1):2061. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57107-y. PMID: 40021619; PMCID: PMC11871073.
Contact
email: kadam@ohsu.edu
