How reproduction shapes health, across the lifespan and across species
We use evolutionary theory to study pregnancy, postpartum health, and the cells that pass between mother and fetus. We also study what reproduction costs the body, including cancer risk, from human mothers to species across the tree of life.
Now enrolling: the Pregnancy Experiences Study, on how pregnant and postpartum people navigate their care. Learn about participating
Our research focuses broadly on evolutionary applications to human health and disease. Our work is motivated by fundamental questions in life history theory. We use a combination of genomics, comparative biology and evolutionary theory to help understand trade-offs between survival and reproduction across different levels of biological organization, from molecules to organisms and everything in between.
In humans
Pregnancy and postpartum biology: immunology, microchimerism, and lactation
Matrescence, the transition to motherhood, reshapes a person's physiology during pregnancy and long after birth. During pregnancy, cells cross the placenta in both directions. Some fetal cells stay in the mother's body for decades, and maternal cells stay in the child. We ask how these cells, and the immune tolerance that lets them persist, affect maternal and child health, including as a pathway in the developmental origins of health and disease. Our Immune Regulation and Maternal-Fetal Health Study examines how the maternal immune system and fetal cells interact during pregnancy.
After birth, we study how lactation practices and reproductive state change maternal inflammation and immune function. Breastfeeding evolved as a two-way exchange between mother and infant, yet most research measures its benefits for the infant alone.
Selected: Boddy & Chua 2026, Human Biology; Chua et al. 2025, Advanced Science; Hové et al. 2024, Scientific Reports; Boddy et al. 2015, BioEssays (video abstract).
In humans
Pregnancy experiences and medical gaslighting
Many pregnant and postpartum people report having their symptoms and concerns dismissed in clinical care. The Pregnancy Experiences Study documents how people navigate prenatal and postpartum care, with the goal of identifying care practices that build trust. A related project examines how pregnant and postpartum people are engaging with AI tools to make health decisions for themselves and their families.
Funded by the Pahl Center for the Study of Critical Social Issues and the UCSB Center for AI and Society.
Across species
Female health across the tree of life
Female animals share biological characteristics that place them at risk for similar diseases and disorders, and comparing species can speed insight into women's health. We compare placentation, gestation, and reproductive pace across mammals. Our recent work links the degree of placental interdigitation to the pace of reproduction, and asks whether preterm birth is unique to humans.
Selected: Parmeggiani et al., in press, Journal of Evolutionary Biology; Natterson-Horowitz, Boddy & Zimmerman 2022, PNAS Nexus; Abegglen et al. 2022, Animals.
Across species
Cancer across species
Cancer occurs across multicellular life, but some species are far more vulnerable than others. Through the Arizona Cancer & Evolution Center, we catalogue cancer across vertebrates to find which life histories, placentas, and physiologies predict vulnerability. One thread runs through reproduction: investment in reproduction can leave fewer resources for cancer defense. We bring the same lens to human cancer, studying how microchimerism relates to cancer in women who have given birth, and how early-life adversity and reproductive history shape breast cancer risk.
Selected: Compton et al. 2025, Cancer Discovery; Parmeggiani et al. 2025, Seminars in Immunopathology; Boddy et al. 2022, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
People
The lab
Principal Investigator
Amy M. Boddy, PhD
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Amy is the principal investigator of the Boddy Lab. View her CV
Graduate Student
Cristiano Parmeggiani
Cristiano is a PhD student in biological anthropology with a background in the humanities and the evolutionary sciences. He studies microchimerism, placental evolution, and cancer prevalence across mammals.
JKGraduate Student
Janine Rose Klein
Bio coming soon.
LRGraduate Student
Lucia Rejzek
Bio coming soon.
Undergraduate Researcher
Manya Weissfeld
Manya is a fourth-year anthropology major with an emphasis in biological anthropology. She works on the lab's research on pregnancy and postpartum experiences and care, and helps lead the lab's outreach and social media.
Sydney Collier Undergraduate Researcher, 2017–2019
Publications
Publications
Journal articles, book chapters, and preprints. For citation counts, see Google Scholar.
Curriculum Vitae
Amy M. Boddy
Human biologist and evolutionary theorist. My work applies evolutionary and ecological theory to human health, with a focus on reproduction, pregnancy, and the costs of reproduction, including cancer.
Amy will present the 2026 Pahl Symposium, hosted by the Pahl Center for the Study of Critical Social Issues at UC Santa Barbara. The talk draws on her research with Kristine Chua (University of Notre Dame) on trust, communication, and medical gaslighting in pregnancy and postpartum care. It examines how time pressures, institutional constraints, and gender dynamics shape patient–provider relationships, and asks what it takes to build more equitable, trusting care during and after pregnancy.
Thursday, October 22, 3:00–4:30 pm, Betty Elings Wells Pavilion, The Club & Guest House, UC Santa Barbara, with a Zoom option. Reception to follow.
New paper
Maternal microchimerism as a mechanism of the developmental origins of health and disease
Maternal cells cross to the fetus during pregnancy and can persist well into adulthood, yet they have received little attention in research on how the prenatal environment shapes lifelong health. In a new perspective in Human Biology, Amy and Kristine Chua argue that maternal microchimerism should be recognized alongside epigenetics, hormonal signaling, and nutritional transfer as a core mechanism through which the early environment shapes offspring biology across the life course.
Boddy AM, Chua KJ. Maternal Microchimerism as a Mechanism of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Human Biology 96(3), in press.
New paper
Placental interdigitation is associated with reproductive pace across mammals
The placenta is the most diverse mammalian organ. Here we compare placenta morphology across mammals to understand the link between reproductive investment and timing. The paper has been accepted in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Congratulations to graduate student Cristiano Parmeggiani, who led the work, and to lab alumni Mary Boyd and Tiffany Pan.
Parmeggiani C, Boyd M, Pan T, Boddy AM. Placental Interdigitation Is Associated with Reproductive Pace across Mammals. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, in press.
Podcast
How much of you is actually you?
Amy joined the Sausage of Science podcast to explain microchimerism: the cells that pass between mother and fetus during pregnancy and can persist in each other's bodies for decades.
The first International Conference on Microchimerism
Researchers studying microchimerism gathered at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, on May 27–28 for the first international conference dedicated to the field. Amy served as co-organizer and on the scientific program committee. The conference was organized on behalf of the Microchimerism Consortium and followed a public symposium on microchimerism on May 26.
The Silent Unknown: reproductive biology through art
Student artists explored reproductive biology in The Silent Unknown, a two-week exhibition at the Glassbox Gallery at UC Santa Barbara, April 6–17, with an opening reception on April 8. Amy served as faculty advisor for the program and mentored one of the student artists. Congratulations to the artists: Lily Hartwick, Emily Kugelmann, Hope Christofferson, Jasmine Ispasoiu, Yaeli Dukler, Sahana Jaligam, Karissa Gomez, and Nicole Tran.
