Pregnancy and Neonatology – PN

Topics

• Placental development and maintenance: trophoblast invasion and differentiation; endocrinology; transport; the development of utero-placental blood flow; maternal/fetal immune-tolerance mechanisms; hypoxia; epigenetics; application of novel technologies or approaches to assess placenta development/function across pregnancy.
• Parturition: cervical ripening; myometrial contractility; production of factors leading to labor; obstructive labor; clinical obstetrics.
• Complications of pregnancy: preeclampsia; gestational diabetes; maternal metabolic changes and obesity; fetal origins of disease involving fetal/neonatal/maternal endpoints; spontaneous abortion; pre-term labor; recurrent pregnancy loss; diabetic embryopathy; intra-uterine growth restriction.
• Fetal biology: growth, development, and metabolism; fetal physiology, pharmacology, and neurobiology; fetal diseases; maternal-fetal interactions.
• Neonatology: transition to extra-uterine life; neonatal physiology, endocrinology, and pathophysiology; jaundice; complications of low birth weight.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests with Gametogenesis and Development of Reproductive Systems (GDRS) in the investigation of factors that modulate early embryo implantation. Applications focused on preimplantation embryo development up to implantation may be review in GDRD, while applications that focus on trophoblast invasion may be reviewed in PN.

There are shared interests with Environmental Influences in Pregnancy and Offspring Health – [EMS (81)] in the investigation of maternal and postnatal nutrient and dietary exposures and effects on fetal health outcomes. Applications focused on nutritional effects on maternal and infant programming, metabolic health on childhood or adult obesity may be reviewed in EMS (81), while those focused on other metabolism-related complications, including gestational diabetes, on fetal development and health may be reviewed in PN.

There are shared interests in pregnancy with Reproductive, Perinatal and Pediatric Health (RPPH). Applications that emphasize the determinants of pregnancy and neonatal health outcomes in human subpopulations may be reviewed in RPPH, while applications that emphasize the physiology and pathophysiology of pregnancy and the neonatal period including clinical obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine to understand the mechanisms underlying pregnancy and its disorders may be reviewed in PN. 

There are shared interests with Immunobiology of Transplantation and Alloimmunity (ITA). Applications addressing the mechanisms of immune tolerance towards allogeneic fetal antigens, during early stages of pregnancy, and applications dealing with immune system development in the offspring may be reviewed in ITA, while applications addressing the maternal/fetal immune-tolerance mechanisms related to the physiology of pregnancy and placental development, parturition, and fetal/neonatal development may be reviewed in PN.

There are shared interests with Pulmonary Injury, Repair, and Remodeling (PIRR). Applications which focus on fetal and postnatal lung development and lung diseases associated with a defect in lung development, such as BPD, may be reviewed in PIRR. Fetal biology and neonatology applications may be reviewed in PN.