Dear VPHi members,Don't miss the third event of the VPHi Keynote webinar series next Monday, Oct 17, 2022 at 10am CET - 9pm NZ time, presented by Prof Alys Clark from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute at University of Auckland, and moderated by Robyn May, member of the VPHi Student Committee.
The webinar will focus on Multi-scale modelling of maternal and fetal interactions at the placenta to understand pregnancy health
The webinar is free and open to anyone but registration will be mandatory. If you plan to attend please register at this link.
ABSTRACT:
The placenta is critical for a healthy pregnancy, as it acts as the lungs (and other organs) of the fetus over gestation. It develops a complex vasculature to enable efficient exchange, and interacts with the circulation of the uterus to establish a nutrient-rich blood supply to its surface. Identifying pregnancy complications early in gestation is important as this reduces the risk of stillbirth, and allows for appropriate monitoring of the pregnancy. In cases of pregnancy complications, there are differences in both the development of the placental circulation, and in the adaption of the uterus to pregnancy. However, finding links between observed vascular structures to clinically measurable indices of placental health is difficult. Here I will present computational modelling as a tool to interpret in-vivo and ex-vivo imaging of the placenta, linking anatomy to function. I will also discuss steps toward interpreting fetal and uterine Doppler ultrasound imaging, current clinical mainstays in pregnancy, that can be guided by computational modelling and a ‘virtual placenta’. |
