Sylvie Girard, Ph.D.

Open

• Placental inflammation and function – in vitro analysis Rochester, Minn.

  The hypothesis of our research is that inflammatory mediators, including alarmins, are important cause of inflammation and poor functioning of the placenta.

  Our overall objective is to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms of action of inflammatory mediators on the placenta, as well as the mechanisms underlying these effects, and to identify new therapeutic targets and investigate their effectiveness in vitro.

  More specifically we aim to:

  1. Determine in vitro the mechanisms and signaling pathways leading to inflammation and abnormal function of the placenta during exposure to alarmins and/or pathogenic agents (infections/pathogen associated molecular patterns) allowing the comparison between the two types of stimuli.

  Following an uncomplicated cesarean delivery, the placenta will be acquired by the study team and approximately 40 grams of tissue will be collected by the study team and placed into maintenance medium. Samples will be transferred to the laboratory of Dr. Girard (Guggenheim 3) or Dr. Enninga (Guggenheim 6) for processing. Processing will include single cell isolation, explants, nucleic acid isolation and/or histology. If samples are to be kept, they will be stored deidentified in the lab of Dr. Girard (Guggenheim 3). Information regarding the samples will be kept in a password protected REDCap database.

  Target patient accrual is 150 participants.