David Olson

Adjunct Professor
Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
PhD, St. Louis University

Laboratory Location: 220 Heritage Medical Research Centre
Email address: dmolson@ualberta.ca
Telephone Number: (780) 492-2765

Laboratory Website

 

Awards

CIHR Commercialization Grant 2025
University Cup 2024
University of Alberta Distinguished Professor 2023
Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Tier I Basic Science Mentoring Award 2022
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) University of Lethbridge 2021

 

Research Interests / Academic Activities

Preterm Birth

Before the appearance of clinical signs of labour, parturition starts as a silent inflammatory event that morphs into a self-perpetuating amplification of many inflammatory pathways, including a massive infiltration of leukocytes into the uterine and fetal tissues. We (and others) have characterized the mechanisms leading to term and preterm birth (PTB), which are similar but differ in timing and sometimes cause (Figure 1). Ongoing intrauterine inflammation harms the developing fetal organs and can lead to fetal inflammatory response syndrome (FIRS). Babies born with FIRS can suffer many complications that may be fatal or impair their long-term health.

Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Preterm Birth

Clinicians lack the tools to effectively determine which women will have a preterm delivery. Our lab has designed multiple diagnostic strategies, including our leukocyte migration assay. This patented bioassay requires a simple blood test, and it measures the activation and mobilization of isolated peripheral leukocytes to chemotactic homogenate isolated from the fetal membranes. It has been tested in two pilot studies, and in both, the assay determined if a woman would deliver in the next 5-7 days with a positive predictive value of >90%. We are now characterizing the fetal membrane chemoattractant’s composition to standardize and commercialize this assay.

Existing preterm birth drugs target uterine contraction, a strategy ineffective in delaying delivery timing or improving fetal health outcomes. We propose that therapeutics should instead target the upstream regulators of the underlying inflammation. We are investigating the efficacy of new Canadian-made therapeutics designed by our collaborators at the University of Montreal (Dr. Sylvain Chemtob), allosteric antagonists targeting IL-1b (rytvela) and IL-6 (HSJ633). Rytvela treatment in preterm labour-induced mice eliminates the increased rates of PTB, fetal death, and infiltration of leukocytes into the reproductive tissues and fetal brains.  

Prenatal Maternal Stress and Preterm Birth

Stress can also influence the timing of delivery. Allostatic load (total accumulated stress) is the physiological and psychological wear and tear that comes from a person’s cumulative experiences of stress over their lifetime (Figure 2). An allostatic load that exceeds a person’s psychological and physiological resilience increases their risk for many disease states, including PTB. We study the physiological and behavioural effects of maternal and paternal prenatal stress on parents and offspring in rats with Prof. Gerlinde Metz (University of Lethbridge). We expose pregnant rats to stressors and measure gestational lengths, maternal and offspring weights, hormone levels, inflammatory factors, brain morphology, metabolic factors, anxiety, and behaviours in these animals and if any changes are passed down epigenetically through multiple generations. We also study women who have experienced stress over a lifetime or through a specific event (e.g., natural disaster) to understand who is at risk for PTB and to develop tools to improve their resilience and achieve better health outcomes.

 

Select Publications

  1. Côté F, Prairie E, Sierra EM, Quiniou C, Habelrih T, Xu W, Ferri B, Hou X, Lahaie I, Côté N, Loiselle SE, Gobeil L, Sawaya K, Faucher A, Beaulieu A, Delisle S, Simard MP, Mohammad Nezhady MA, Laplante V, Reuben A, Kalaidji SM, Bajon E, Cagnone G, Leimert KB, Gauchat JF, Gaudreau L, Robertson S, Lubell WD, Olson DM, Chemtob S. A novel modulator of IL-6R prevents inflammation-induced preterm birth and improves newborn outcome. EMBO Mol Med 2025 Jul 3. doi: 10.1038/s44321-025-00257-9.

  2. Lopes NA, Ambeskovic M, King SE, Faraji J, Soltanpour N, Xu W, Fang X, Metz GAS, Olson DM. Transgenerational transmission of prenatal maternal stress across three generations of male progeny alters inflammatory stress markers in reproductive tissues. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2025 Mar 29;177:107451. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107451.

  3. Chin PY, Moldenhauer LM, Lubell WD, Olson DM, Chemtob S, Keelan JA, Robertson SA. Inhibition of interleukin-1 signaling protects against Group B streptococcus-induced preterm birth and fetal loss in mice. Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 2025 Mar 17;169:104520. doi: 10.1016/j.jri.2025.104520.

  4. Lee H, Takamizu A, Nishizaki Y, Yanagisawa N, Nojiri S, Itakura A, Yin N, Liu Z, Wang L, Ran Y, Chen J, Leimert KB, Makino S, Takeda S, Qi H, Takeda J, Olson DM. Activation of peripheral leukocyte migration before spontaneous labor at term. AJOG 231(5):539.e1-539.e13. (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2024.02.280.

  5. Ng JWY, Felix JF, Olson DM. A novel approach to risk exposure and epigenetics - the use of multidimensional context to gain insights into the early origins of cardiometabolic and neurocognitive health. BMC Med. 21(1):466. (2023) doi: 10.1186/s12916-023-03168-z.

  6. Lopes NA, Ambeskovic M, King SE, Faraji J, Soltanpour N, Falkenberg EA, Scheidl T, Patel M, Fang X, Metz GAS, Olson DM. Environmental enrichment promotes transgenerational programming of uterine inflammatory and stress markers comparable to gestational chronic variable stress. IJMS. 24(4):3734. (2023) doi: 10.3390/ijms24043734.

  7. Habelrih T, Tremblay DÉ, Di Battista E, Hou X, Reuben A, Ferri B, Loiselle SE, Côté F, Abram P, Lubell WD, Leimert KB, Quiniou C, Girard S, Olson DM, Chemtob S. Pharmacodynamic characterization of rytvela, a novel allosteric anti-inflammatory therapeutic, to prevent preterm birth and improve fetal and neonatal outcomes. AJOG 228(4):467.e1-467.e16. (2023) doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.10.007.

  8. Lopes NA, Falkenberg EA, Wiley C, Patel V, Serrano-Lomelin J, Fang X, Weiler AM, McCreary JK, Metz GAS, Olson DM. Social isolation stress modulates pregnancy outcomes and the inflammatory profile of rat uterus. IJMS. 23(11):6169. (2022) doi: 10.3390/ijms23116169.

  9. Lee H, Patel V, Onushko M, Fang X, Chemtob S, Olson D. A leukocyte migration assay assists understanding of interleukin-1β-induced leukocyte migration into preterm mouse uterus. Front. Pharmacol. 13:898008. (2022) doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.898008.

  10. Leimert KB, Xu W, Princ MM, Chemtob S, Olson DM. Inflammatory amplification: A central tenet of uterine transition for labor. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 11:660983. (2021) doi:10.3389/fcimb.2021.660983.

  11. Verstraeten BSE, Elgbeili G, Hyde A, King S, Olson DM. Maternal mental health after a wildfire: Effects of social support in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Study. Can. J. of Psychiatry. 66(8):710-718. (2021) doi: 10.1177/0706743720970859.

  12. Prairie E, Côté F, Tsakpinoglou M, Mina M, Quiniou C, Leimert K, Olson D, Chemtob S. The determinant role of IL-6 in the establishment of inflammation leading to spontaneous preterm birth. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 59:118-130. (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.cytogfr.2020.12.004 

Laboratory Members

Senior Scientist:
Kelycia Leimert, Ph.D.

Technician:
Junyoung Yang, M.Sc.

Project Translation Coordinator:
Anna Noga, Ph.D.

Graduate Students:
Tania Rodezno Antunes
Wendy Xu
Yuelu Chen