‘Getting one step closer ...’

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Four words that strike fear into the heart of every new parent.

Research has been conducted for many years to find a way to prevent SIDS, and now a former Bureau County woman is involved in some of that research.

Jessica (Dabler) Martin grew up in Bureau County, attending Ladd Grade School through eighth grade, and then attending and graduating from Hall High School in 1999.

Martin then went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which she graduated in 2003 with a major in molecular and integrative physiology. She is now a doctorate student in neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore. She is expecting to defend her thesis and graduate next spring.

Martin is currently working with neurophysiologist Agnieszka Balkowiec, who received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to examine a group of molecules called neurotrophins to determine their role in the part of the nervous system that controls the heart and blood vessels. So far, the research is indicating the body’s nerve cells may hold clues to SIDS, and infants who are unable to compensate for low blood pressure have a higher risk for SIDS death.

Martin said she became interested in the research project because she is interested in how the nervous system develops from birth onward.

“My project came from a passion to understand how the brain can change and re-organize itself from birth all the way into adulthood,” she said. “It is believed that the underlying causes of SIDS stems from the improper development of circuitry in the brainstem that controls vital functions such as breathing, blood pressure and heart rate.”

Dabler, whose parents Jim and Donna Dabler live in Spring Valley, now lives outside Portland, Ore., with her husband, Jason Martin, and their 17-month-old son, Ian. She said she had started doing SIDS research a few years before Ian’s birth, and his birth increased her interest.

“As a new mom, SIDS is always in the back of your mind every night when you put your child to sleep,” she said. “As a researcher, I know just how rare SIDS actually is, which is a comforting thing. The scary thing, however, is that SIDS happens unexpectedly in seemingly healthy infants.”