Several fetal brain malformations and disorders associated with the maternal gut microbiome could be prevented if they were detected during pregnancy.
As a 2025 Schmidt Science Fellow, Mariana will improve magnetic resonance imaging techniques to find correlations between fetal brain malformations and the maternal gut microbiome. Using machine learning, Mariana will identify neuroimaging biomarkers and biogeographically map the microbiome composition at different time points during pregnancy.
Mariana’s goal is to generate mathematical models to develop an automatic image detection pipeline to help prevent brain malformations and pioneer a new approach to studying the microbiome.
Mariana will pivot from Biomaterials to Machine Learning