A link to pregnancy complications with assisted reproduction discovered
Researchers find that embryo culture is a factor that may lead to more complicated pregnancies with assisted reproduction processes.
An experimental study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine links a specific procedure—embryo culture—that is part of the assisted reproduction process (ART) to placental abnormalities, risk for preeclampsia, and abnormal fetal growth. The team, led by Marisa Bartolemei, a professor of cell and developmental biology, published their findings in Development.
Millions of births across the world have occurred with the aid of ART, and while its use continues to rise globally, this revolution in human reproduction does come with some problems, the underlying cause of these issues remain unclear.
“The question has always been, is increased risk a function of infertility or is it due to these procedures, because you’re doing all these manipulations outside the normal environment,” Bartolomei says.
Bartolomei and colleagues used a mouse model to study the effects of four individual ART procedures—hormone stimulation, in vitro fertilization, embryo culture and embryo transfer—on placental development and fetal growth. All four procedures led to reduced fetal weight at mid-gestation, and at late gestation groups utilizing embryo culture still had reduced fetal weight, larger placentas, and altered placental cell composition.
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
Helping robots work together to explore the Moon and Mars
Penn Engineers, NASA, and five other universities tested robotic systems designed to help unmanned explorers cooperate in the dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, paving the way for Moon and Mars exploration.
From framework to actions: Provost John L. Jackson Jr. talks Penn Forward
In a Q&A, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. explains the relationship between the strategic framework In Principle and Practice and Penn Forward—a new University-wide process and action plan that will advance Penn forward for the next decade and beyond.
