EPG council

EPG President

Rohan Lewis

I have been studying the placenta for almost 25 years and have published on placental transport, metabolism, and ultrastructure, as well as placenta’s sensing of the maternal environment and its role in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. My work applying mathematical modelling to placental transport studies, has provided insights into the transport of amino acids, lipids, cortisol and pharmacological drugs. The application of 3D imaging to the placenta, particularly serial block-face scanning electron microscopy has provided new insights into placental structure in the human placenta and I am now applying this 3D approach to comparative placentology.

I have been an active member of the placental community since my first IFPA in 2001. I have been on the editorial board of Placenta and my contributions as a reviewer for the journal have been recognised by “Excellence in Reviewing” awards in 2014 and 2018. I have also been actively involved in the European Placental Perfusion Workshop, which I was helped organise in 2011, 2020 and 2021. As part of the European Union funded Early nutrition project and a Leverhulme Trust funded comparative placentology project I have collaborated with researchers from across Europe.

 

EPG Secretary

Christian Wadsack

The Wadsack lab is carrying out research on the molecular mechanisms of the human placenta responsible for pregnancy diseases associated with inflammation. In particular, research interest focuses on understanding the contributing role of bioactive lipids and endocannabinoids on placental function and metabolism to common and debilitating conditions of pregnancy e.g.  obesity and preeclampsia/FGR.
In addition, the lab is working on different projects related to the communication between feto/placental exosomes and fetal organs by running ex vivo placental perfusion experiments. Further, with this ex vivo approach the lab is constantly researching on new concepts of IgG and monoclonal antibody transfer across the placenta.
Christian Wadsack has been appointed as dean of doctoral studies at the Medical University of Graz. He is speaker of the international PhD-program “Inflammatory Disorders in Pregnancy” in which 15 highly curious students working on different aspects of the placenta. Together with Udo Markert he acts as guest editor of Placenta – Special Issue on “Placenta Perfusion”.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5589-8642
https://placentalab.science/people/20-christian-wadsack

 

EPG Treasurer

Diana Morales-Prieto

Dr. Diana Morales Prieto is deputy head and a group leader of the Placenta-Lab in the Department of Obstetrics, University Hospital Jena (Jena, GER).  She earned her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá, COL) and her doctoral degree Ph.D. (Dr.rer.nat) at the Biology and Pharmacy Faculty of the Friedrich-Schiller University (Jena, GER). Recently, Diana qualified for a professorship (Habilitation) with a Venia Legendi in Experimental Obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine, Friedrich-Schiller University. Diana was a postdoctoral fellow at the Placenta-Lab and the Department of Neurology both of the University Hospital Jena, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science (RNA Bioinformatics and High Throughput Analysis) of the Friedrich-Schiller-University.  She has been awarded the Elsevier Trophoblast Research New Investigator Award (International Federation of Placenta Associations) and the Dr. John Gusdon Memorial New Investigator Award (American Society for Reproductive Immunology). 

Her research focuses on three interrelated areas of investigation: The feto-maternal communication mediated by extracellular vesicles and microRNAs. The maternal immunological adaptation and brain remodeling and how these persist after birth. And the effect of pollutants on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes.

bibliography : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/diana.morales%20prieto.1/bibliography/public/

 

 

Anne Couturier-Tarrade

Anne Couturier-Tarradeis a senior scientist at BREED Unit (Biology of Reproduction, Epigenetic, Environment and Development) from INRAE, a research unit focusing on reproduction and DOHaD (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease). She is at the head of PEPPS team (Placenta, Environment and Programming of PhenotypeS).

She has been working in the field of DOHaD for over ten years now, focusing on the effects of maternal environment (nutrition, metabolism, pollution and nanoparticles) on the placenta, a programming agent of offspring phenotype.

She has acquired a strong expertise on several animal models including rabbit and mouse, but also on human placenta during her PhD.

She is a member of the board of DOHaD (http://sf-dohad.fr) and a MC member substitute of the COST “Cellfit” (http://cost-cellfit.eu/). Currently, she is the coordinator of two research programs related to placental function (ANR and INRAE).

https://www6.jouy.inrae.fr/breed_eng/Our-Research/Scientific-teams/Placenta-Environment-and-Programming-of-PhenotypeS-PEPPS

 

Mark Dilworth

Mark Dilworth is a lecturer in Maternal and Fetal Health at the University of Manchester, UK, having previously been an MRC Career Development Award Research Fellow from 2013-2018. His PhD, focused upon renal physiology, was completed in 2007 before he then saw the light and moved to the pregnancy (and placental) field! Mark is a reproductive physiologist whose research focuses on investigating the placental causes of fetal growth restriction and stillbirth in higher-risk populations, including women of advanced maternal age. Mark also has expertise in the use of pre-clinical models, including animal models, to assess candidate therapies for placental dysfunction. Mark is passionate about bringing through the next generation of placental researchers in his roles as PhD supervisor and programme director for MRes Reproduction and Pregnancy. He also chairs the Elsevier Trophoblast Research (New Investigator) Award committee.     

www.manchester.ac.uk/research/m.r.dilworth

 

Christiane Pfarrer

Christiane Pfarrer graduated as veterinarian in Germany in 1989 and joined the Anatomy Department of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen in 1992 where she also graduated as Dr. med. vet. in the same year. She started her “placenta life” by studying placental vascularization comparatively in the group of Prof. Rudi Leiser. Several research visits to other universities (University of Copenhagen, Loma Linda University, Texas A&M University) improved her knowledge. Later she focused on histologically characterizing the feto-maternal interaction especially, but not exclusively, in bovines. This work resulted in her habilitation in 2004. From that point, she (together with her group) developed in vitro models for embryo-maternal communication in bovines. Career wise, she became Chair of Anatomy at the Institute for Anatomy (also head of Institute) of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation in Germany. In Hannover, her group intensified the work on in vitro systems by developing 3-D models (organoids/spheroids) and started ultrastructural analysis and 3-D reconstruction of the bovine interhemal membrane and trophoblast giant cells.

Christiane is member of EPG since her first meeting in Spa, Belgium in 1995. In 2003 she co-organized the EPG/IFPA meeting in Mainz, Germany together with Rudi Leiser. Later she served in the EPG planning committee and was representative of EPG in the IFPA board, and subsequently Secretary of IFPA from 2012-2016. Besides, she is an active member of the European Association of Veterinary Anatomists (EAVA), where she served as treasurer, vice president (2016-21) and was elected president this year (2021). She has co-authored > 130 original articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Michelle Broekhuizen