Our laboratory is interested to elucidate the effect of environmental factors (contaminant, prenatal maternal stress, depression, pathogens and pharmaceutical drugs) and obstetric complications (preeclampsia, preterm birth and gestational diabetes) as well as the role/impact of fetal sex on placental endocrine function and fetal development. Our research hypothesis is that exposure at certain environmental factors during pregnancy could induce important alterations in the mechanisms of regulation of the placenta and by consequence on fetal development in a sex-specific manner. The mother-placental-fetal relationships present an original approach to examine the effects of environmental pollutants, pharmaceutical drugs and maternal stress/depression which may have long-term consequences on the development and programming of the fetus. The mother-placental-fetal relationships present an original approach to examine the effects of pollutants and drugs, as well as maternal stress/depression which may have long-term consequences on the children health. Ongoing studies are focused to develop new model (co-culture model and placenta-on-chips) to study the impact on environmental factor and pathogens on the mother-placenta-fetal axis. Our aim is that this new technology will both accelerate discovery and permit more elaborate experimental designs than previously possible, to the benefit of our research program and those of our collaborators.
http://inrs.ca/english/cathy-vaillancourt
