AMHERST — A University of Massachusetts researcher is using a three-year, $400,000 grant to study the biomechanical forces and chemical factors that cause birth defects of brain and spinal cord in the first few weeks of fetal development. Known as neural tube defects, these conditions occur when critical parts of the central nervous system don’t develop properly.
Yubing Sun, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, says researchers have some knowledge about neural tube defects and know that folic acid greatly reduces the risk for the defects. But they don’t know why.
During the first few weeks of development in pregnancy, a ribbon of tissue turns into a tube that becomes the spinal cord and brain. When the tube fails to close or is incomplete, birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly occur.
Sun says he wants to gain a greater understanding of the mechanical and chemical factors that guide the development of the neural tubes and will use human cells to study this.