Month: February 2025

Monitoring contractions in labor hasn’t changed in 50 years–the most often used tool, the tocodynamometer, uses an indirect, one dimensional view of uterine activity in labor. 

Dr. Wang talks about applying the tech used in cardiology to the uterus, to create a three dimensional way to non invasively measure electricity as it travels through the smooth muscle of the uterus, creating contractions.  His lab is working on the tech that would allow us to distinguish, and potentially arrest preterm labor, to potentially jump start arrested labor, and to create a uterine measure of labor stages (which could be used in conjunction with cervical checks). 

 Understanding how the uterus works and the wearable technology that this work promises gives a sense of how complicated the uterus is when contractions feel fierce or labor stalls.  It may also have applications that ease period cramps and monitor and potentially “turn off” endometriosis. 

Wang Lab: https://reproductivesciences.wustl.edu/laboratories/wang-lab/

Dr. Wang’s publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1Tux87w_RnEkl/bibliography/47687944/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

You may not have given much thought to the lining of your uterus, aka your endometrium; but it is a super important workhorse when it comes to pregnancy, and one that, it turns out, has a voice. The old story used to be that the endometrium is this passive, patient group of cells waiting to give any embryo it glimpsed a warm, safe harbor to grow. Today’s guest shares the updated story: the endometrium as selective screener, interviewing the embryo–by assessing its chemical signals– accepting and investing in the embryos it thinks are viable, and rejecting the rest.

Nick Macklon’s published work can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=nick+macklon&sort=date 

Uterine Selection of Human Embryos at Implantation: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3915549/

Dr. Macklon’s work at the London Women’s Clinic, Kind IVF

On average in the US 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely and, in many cases, the cause is unknown; although there could be many contributing factors, nearly 40% of pregnant people who deliver before 37 weeks exhibit chronic placental inflammation, which happens when the mother’s immune system attacks the placenta. 

Today’s guest is trying to decipher the conversation between the immune system and a pregnancy.  If we understood this conversation, we could look for ways to predict and potentially prevent preterm birth, and in the process we are learning more about how spontaneous term labor happens (which is, somewhat shockingly, also a mystery).

Center for Reproductive Health: Gomez-Lopez Lab

article that launches this conversation:
Deciphering Maternal-Fetal Crosstalk in the Human Placenta during parturition using single cell RNA sequencing

Preterm birth is a significant problem in the world and affects one in 10 pregnancies in the US.

Any early birth anytime before 37 weeks. Could lead to a host of negative outcomes, both for the mother and the baby.

What can be done?

Today, I talked to a researcher about his work examining how aspirin taken early in pregnancy can decrease the rate of preterm birth.

Dr. Hoffman’s most recent publication about aspirin use in pregnancy: https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/citation/2024/03000/aspirin_in_pregnancy.27.aspx