Presented By: Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series
"Bioengineering at the Maternal-Fetal Interface," with Michelle L. Oyen, Ph.D.
Bioengineering at the Maternal-Fetal Interface
Abstract:
Of 3.6 million live births in the US each year, over 370,000 are preterm, and there are about 21,000 stillbirths. In addition to poor fetal outcomes, maternal mortality in the US is rising. Animal models of human pregnancy are limited, and there are reasonable ethical restrictions on experimentation with pregnant women. As a result, less is known about pregnancy than other aspects of human physiology. There are thus opportunities for transformative research to examine tissues at the complex maternal-fetal interface, including the placenta and fetal membranes. Examples from current research will be presented, incorporating both fundamental engineering and clinical studies on placental insufficiency, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, and stillbirth. With the recent worldwide attention given to poor maternal and fetal outcomes, novel bioengineering research into pregnancy is timely and necessary. Ex-vivo pregnancy research—both computational and laboratory-based—has great potential to explore fundamental aspects of reproductive physiology that are otherwise impossible to investigate in humans, with significant financial and societal implications.
Abstract:
Of 3.6 million live births in the US each year, over 370,000 are preterm, and there are about 21,000 stillbirths. In addition to poor fetal outcomes, maternal mortality in the US is rising. Animal models of human pregnancy are limited, and there are reasonable ethical restrictions on experimentation with pregnant women. As a result, less is known about pregnancy than other aspects of human physiology. There are thus opportunities for transformative research to examine tissues at the complex maternal-fetal interface, including the placenta and fetal membranes. Examples from current research will be presented, incorporating both fundamental engineering and clinical studies on placental insufficiency, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, and stillbirth. With the recent worldwide attention given to poor maternal and fetal outcomes, novel bioengineering research into pregnancy is timely and necessary. Ex-vivo pregnancy research—both computational and laboratory-based—has great potential to explore fundamental aspects of reproductive physiology that are otherwise impossible to investigate in humans, with significant financial and societal implications.
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