Summary of Federal Grant Award

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded a $248,999 Project Grant to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (performing research in La Jolla, CA) for the period of June 15, 2026 through May 31, 2029 under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865). The award supports multiscale experimental and computational research to characterize pregnancy-induced remodeling of pelvic floor muscles (PFMs), with the ultimate goal of understanding vaginal delivery biomechanics and birth injury mechanisms to address pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) affecting approximately 25% of U.S. women.

The research deliverables include cell culture studies examining the effects of sex hormones (particularly estrogen) and mechanical stretch on skeletal muscle stem cells and fibro-adipogenic progenitors isolated from rat PFMs. Quantifiable outputs will comprise measurements of myotube growth and fusion indices via bright field microscopy, as well as quantification of collagen secretion by fibroblasts using fluorescence microscopy. These laboratory findings will serve as proxies for in vivo muscle fiber growth and extracellular matrix deposition, generating fundamental scientific data on contractile and extracellular matrix component changes that will inform subsequent computational modeling of PFM biomechanics across the pregnancy-to-postpartum continuum.