The Hidden Conversation Between the Immune System and Pregnancy: What It Means for Birth: Dr. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez

On average in the US 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely and, in many cases, the cause is unknown; although there could be many contributing factors, nearly 40% of pregnant people who deliver before 37 weeks exhibit chronic placental inflammation, which happens when the mother's immune system attacks the placenta. Today's guest is trying to decipher the conversation between the immune system and a pregnancy.  If we understood this conversation, we could look for ways to predict and potentially prevent preterm birth, and in the process we are learning more about how spontaneous term labor happens (which is, somewhat shockingly, also a mystery).Center for Reproductive Health: Gomez-Lopez Labarticle that launches this conversation: Deciphering Maternal-Fetal Crosstalk in the Human Placenta during parturition using single cell RNA sequencing