From engineering to infectious disease research, Brittany Russ’s path reflects the power of pivoting with purpose. A South Florida native and graduate of the University of Florida, Brittany earned her undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering before completing a master’s in biomedical engineering. She now works in the lab of Dr. Julie Moore, studying malaria during pregnancy and its impact on placental health. Her work integrates mouse models, human placental explants, and mass spectrometry based lipidomics to better understand how infection and inflammation contribute to poor maternal and infant outcomes.
Brittany’s research focuses on identifying lipid biomarkers and uncovering mechanisms of placental pathology that could improve diagnostics and interventions for at-risk populations worldwide. Passionate about large-scale data analysis and translational impact, Brittany is committed to advancing global maternal health through collaborative, interdisciplinary science.
Read the full interview here:
Can you provide a brief introduction about yourself and your academic background?
I was born and raised in South Florida, right near the beach, so I’ve always loved the ocean, warm weather, and being outside. That was a big part of who I was growing up. When I was thinking about where I wanted to go for undergrad, the University of Florida felt like an obvious choice for me.
I came to UF and did my undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering. That field focuses on different classes of materials, like metals, ceramics, and polymers, and understanding their properties and how they’re used and applied in the world around us. I enjoyed what I learned in those classes, and I’ve always been good at math. I found it interesting, but at the same time, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do long term. One thing I knew pretty quickly was that I really did not like chemistry, and materials science is very chemistry-heavy. I got through it, graduated, but still was unsure of my long term career path. Because of that, I decided to continue my education and enrolled in a master’s program in biomedical engineering, also at UF. At the time, the program was just starting to come together. There wasn’t even a biomedical engineering major at UF for undergrad yet!
During my master’s program, I got a taste of the biological sciences and cell biology, and that was really the first time I realized how interesting I found that side of science. After graduating, I worked on a few engineering projects and internships. I did that for a short period of time, but I realized pretty quickly that I wanted a change. That’s when I applied to work in Dr. Julie Moore’s lab here at IDI. I had no prior biology experience, but she was willing to take me on and train me. Around the same time, Dr. Moore had just moved here from the University of Georgia, so we started here together. I’ve been working in the lab since 2018.
My engineering background instilled in me the ability to “learn how to learn”, and I carried that mindset with me into Dr. Moore’s lab. Every day is different, and I’ve been learning ever since.
What is the primary focus of your research?
Our lab studies malaria during pregnancy, but more broadly, we’re interested in pathogenesis in pregnancy in general. We use malaria as a model to understand placental pathology and pregnancy-related disease. We’re interested in health outcomes for both the mother and the baby. In malaria-endemic regions, women who become pregnant are at an extremely high risk for malaria. That’s because pregnancy essentially resets their immune status back to zero. The reasons for that are complicated, but a big part of it is that pregnancy introduces a new organ into the body: the placenta.
The malaria parasite takes advantage of this by expressing a specific ligand on the surface of mom’s red blood cells, which allows it to bind to placental tissue. This creates a completely new environment for the parasite, and as a result, the mother’s immune defenses are weaker than they were before pregnancy. Once the parasite is in the placenta, it causes a cascade of problems. There’s infiltration of immune cells and deposition of fibrin, which is essentially a type of scar tissue. That fibrin can clog the placenta and disrupt its normal function. This causes pathology for the mother and her newborn. Babies can be born extremely early, very small, or in some cases, pregnancies result in miscarriage.
We’re really interested in understanding what’s happening in malaria specifically, but also what’s happening in placental tissue more generally that leads to these really poor outcomes. To study this, we use multiple models. We have a mouse model where we infect mice with a mouse-specific strain of malaria that is not infectious to humans. We then breed the mice and follow them through the course of pregnancy to see how infection impacts placental development and pregnancy outcomes.
We also have an in vitro model using human placentas donated through UF Health Shands Hospital. We work closely with Dr. Mehmet Genc, who helps recruit pregnant women who consent to donate their placentas for research. We’re incredibly appreciative of these donations. From those placentas, we take explants, which are small pieces of tissue, and expose them to different conditions. That might be malaria parasites, immune cells, or hemozoin, which is a component of the parasite that’s highly inflammatory. This allows us to measure functional outputs and understand how placental tissue responds under different conditions.
Why is your research important? What impact does it have on the field or society?
Malaria during pregnancy is a huge global health issue, and it disproportionately affects women and babies in malaria-endemic regions. Understanding what’s happening in the placenta helps explain why pregnancy makes women more vulnerable to infection and why the consequences can be so severe for fetal development. Beyond malaria, our research helps build a better understanding of placental biology and pregnancy pathogenesis as a whole. The placenta is still a relatively understudied organ, and many pregnancy complications like preterm birth or low birth weight share overlapping inflammatory and immune-driven mechanisms.
By understanding how infection, immune responses, and tissue damage interact in the placenta, we can start identifying markers of disease, potential diagnostic tools, and eventually interventions that could improve outcomes for both mothers and babies. The broader impact is improving maternal and infant health, especially in populations that are already at high risk.
Can you describe any current research projects you are working on?
One of our most recent and ongoing projects involves analyzing lipidomics data from dried blood spots collected from a large cohort of Kenyan women who participated in the study. These women donated placentas, peripheral blood, and placental blood, giving us a really rich dataset to work with.
The dried blood spots blood collected on filter paper which we now have here in the lab. We worked with Dr. Tim Garrett’s lab, who specializes in mass spectrometry, to extract lipidomics data from these samples. What we get from that is essentially a catalogue of all the lipids present in the blood: fatty acids, triglycerides, cholesterol, and other lipid classes.
We’re particularly interested in whether these lipid profiles differ between women who had malaria during pregnancy and those who didn’t. So we stratify the samples by infection status and analyze the data using principal component analysis, different regression models, and other statistical approaches. We’re already seeing differences in the lipid profiles, which is really exciting, especially because these are relatively simple samples. We’re still analyzing the data, so we don’t have the full picture yet, but the diagnostic potential is there.
Looking ahead, we’re planning to do similar lipidomics analyses on cryogenically preserved plasma from the same cohort. We expect to see even more detailed information from plasma, but these samples are incredibly precious. They have to be shipped frozen from Kenya and stored at -80°C, and even a single thaw can dramatically reduce sample quality. Because of that, we have to meticulously plan every step before using them.
What methodologies or approaches do you use in your research?
We use a combination of in vivo mouse models, in vitro placental explant models, and human clinical samples. On the analytical side, we rely heavily on mass spectrometry-based lipidomics, statistical modeling, and bioinformatics approaches. We also perform immunological assays, cytokine analyses, and functional readouts to understand how placental tissue responds to infection and inflammation. A big part of the work is integrating large datasets and trying to make sense of complex biological systems.
Are you collaborating with any other researchers or institutions?
Yes, collaboration is a huge part of what we do. Dr. Tim Garrett here at UF plays a major role in our lipidomics work. We also collaborate with Dr. Lilian Olivera, who was previously at UF and is now at the University of Georgia, on a spatial transcriptomics project. In that project, we take placental tissue samples, place them on slides, and analyze gene expression across the entire tissue surface. This allows us to see where specific transcriptomic changes are occurring at a cellular level across different regions of the placenta. Our work also builds on long-standing collaborations in Kenya that were established through Dr. Julie Moore’s previous research program there.
Which research project have you found most rewarding to work on?
Honestly, any and all experiments that generate large, complex datasets. I really enjoy working with data at scale; visualizing it, exploring patterns, and thinking through what the results mean in a broader biological and clinical context. There’s something deeply satisfying about turning thousands of data points into a coherent story that can actually move a project forward or change how we think about a problem.
Have you received any notable awards or recognitions for your research?
I haven’t received any formal external awards, but I do have several manuscript authorships, which I consider meaningful recognition of my contributions. Being trusted with important experiments and seeing that work translate into published research has been very rewarding.
Outside of your research, what other interests or hobbies do you have?
Outside of work, I enjoy playing video games in my downtime. I’ve also recently really gotten into fitness. I go to the gym regularly and run stadium stairs when they’re open. I focus on strength and functional training, especially rebuilding and maintaining mobility. It’s really rewarding to build strength in areas where you’ve previously been injured. I enjoy cooking and baking, and since I’ve been into fitness I’ve been exploring healthy and delicious recipes. A few years ago, I completely switched things up and went to Colorado to learn how to snowboard, which was probably the most physically challenging and humbling thing I’ve ever done.
I love being on the water and spending time at the beach or the springs. I spend time with my family when I can, however they’re up in New York so they’re unfortunately a bit far.
How can others learn more about your work or get in touch with you?
Email: bruss@ufl.edu
Phone: (352) 294-4112
Research Gate Account: Brittany N Russ
What is your general advice for anyone who wants to do what you do?
You can have a really rich, fulfilling career in science without necessarily having a PhD. If you want to pursue a PhD that’s wonderful, but make sure it’s the right project and the right fit for you. I work with a lot of students, both undergraduate and graduate, and I’ve seen the ones who are successful and the ones who struggle.
If you want to be a biological scientist, my biggest advice is to get into a lab as early as possible, even if it’s just volunteering. See if you actually like bench work. See how you feel about the process. The reality is that unfortunately you’re going to generate a lot of negative data. Many experiments won’t work, or they won’t give you the result you hoped for, or something will go wrong entirely. You have to be resilient and flexible in your mindset and be okay saying, “Not every project I take on is going to yield an amazing result, and that’s okay.” That’s part of the process, and it’s what makes getting good data so rewarding.
If you’re like me and you came from a different background (like engineering) but you have an interest in human biology, you can absolutely make it work. Coming from a different undergrad path is not a detractor. The options are available to you if you’re willing to pivot. You decide your limitations.
Interviewer: Julia Martin, UF Undergraduate
Interview with Brittany Russ
Transcribed: 1/5/2025
