News

“Distinctive phenotypes and functions of innate lymphoid cells in human decidua during early pregnancy” selected as most exciting Immunology work published at Nature Communications

27 January 2021

Congratulations to Oisín Huhn, Martin A. Ivarsson, Lucy Gardner, Mike Hollinshead, Jane C Stinchcombe, Puran Chen, Norman Shreeve, Olympe Chazara, Lydia E. Farrell, Jakob Theorell, Hormas Ghadially, Peter Parham, Gillian Griffiths, Amir Horowitz, Ashley Moffett, Andrew M. Sharkey and Francesco Colucci on their paper “...

Study by the Zernicka-Goetz lab highlights the role of zygotic genome activation in regulating the timing of cell polarization

8 January 2021

Zhu M, Cornwall-Scoones J, Wang P, Handford CE, Na J, Thomson M, Zernicka-Goetz M. During the early stages of the pregnancy, the cells of the mammalian embryos differentiate into trophectoderm (TE), the progenitors of the placenta; and inner cell mass (ICM), the clump of cells that will give rise to embryonic tissues and...

Air pollution and pre-eclampsia; associations and potential mechanisms

5 January 2021

Elizabeth Bearblock, Catherine E. Aiken, Graham J. Burton Abstract Introduction Air pollution has significant negative health impacts, particularly on the cardiovascular system. The aims of this narrative review were to identify whether there is an association between air pollution and the incidence of pre-eclampsia, and...

Developmental programming of the female reproductive system—a review

5 January 2021

Sijia Yao , Jorge Lopez-Tello , Amanda N Sferruzzi-Perri Abstract Exposures to adverse conditions in utero can lead to permanent changes in the structure and function of key physiological systems in the developing fetus, increasing the risk of disease and premature aging in later postnatal life. When considering the...

HYPOXIA AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: Oxygen and development of the human placenta - just published

4 January 2021

Graham J Burton, Tereza Cindrova-Davies , Hong wa Yung and Eric Jauniaux Abstract Development of the human placenta takes place in contrasting oxygen concentrations at different stages of gestation, from ~20 mmHg during the first trimester rising to ~60 mmHg at the start of the second trimester before gradually declining...

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, Head of the Department of Genetics, new Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research

18 December 2020

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, a Fellow of Darwin College and Head of the Department of Genetics at the University, has been appointed as Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research for one year from 1 January 2021. She takes over the role from Professor Chris Abell, who died suddenly in October. Professor Ferguson-Smith is...

Does abnormal placental CD8+ T‐cell infiltration have a role in fetalgrowth restriction and preeclampsia?

14 December 2020

Abnormal placental CD8 + T‐cell infiltration is a feature of fetal growth restriction and pre‐eclampsia Susanne Lager, Ulla Sovio, Elizabeth Eddershaw, Margaretha W. van der Linden, Cansu Yazar, Emma Cook, Lisa Happerfield, Flora A. Jessop, Neil J. Sebire, D. Stephen Charnock‐Jones, Gordon C. S. Smith Abstract Fetal growth...

Dr Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri awarded the 2020 Hans Sigrist Prize

4 December 2020

Each year, the Hans Sigrist Foundation at the University of Bern in Switzerland puts out a call to all the professors at its eight faculties to submit proposals for a field for the coming year’s Hans Sigrist Prize. The prize is not a lifetime achievement award, but instead, it recognizes a top mid-career academic...

Could we learn more about cancer understanding placentology?

4 December 2020

BAP1/ASXL complex modulation regulates Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition during trophoblast differentiation and invasion Vicente Perez-Garcia , Pablo Lopez-Jimenez , Graham J Burton , Ashley Moffett , Margherita Y Turco , Myriam Hemberger Abstract Normal function of the placenta depends on the earliest developmental stages...

Embryo Size Regulates the Timing and Mechanism of Pluripotent Tissue Morphogenesis

2 December 2020

Summary Mammalian embryogenesis is a paradigm of regulative development as mouse embryos show plasticity in the regulation of cell fate, cell number, and tissue morphogenesis. However, the mechanisms behind embryo plasticity remain largely unknown. Here, we determine how mouse embryos respond to an increase in cell numbers...