Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have produced a placenta-on-a-chip, and their study could help determine causes of premature birth. Nancy Crotti Engineers have replicated human lungs, ...

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science have demonstrated the feasibility of their "organ-on-a-chip" platform in studying how drugs are transported ...

In the human placenta, there are placental villi, and the surface of the villi consists of syncytiotrophoblast, also called barrier cells, that serve as the main barrier against foreign substances.

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking "placenta-on-a-chip" using a thin, transparent polymer block with microchannels a millionth of a meter wide and high, separated by a porous membrane. This ...

Investigators from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) say they have uncovered the details behind the virus's unique ability to cross the placental barrier and expose the fetus ...

A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston and collaborating institutions reveals that maternal COVID-19 ...

A Cell study published last week showed the antibodies created by RNA vaccines for HIV and Zika virus can cross the placental barrier and inoculate baby rabbits. The authors noted a major route for ...

Infection with Zika virus in pregnancy can lead to neurological disorders, fetal abnormalities and fetal death. Until now, how the virus manages to cross the placenta, which nurtures the developing ...

New studies suggest the virus can cross the placenta, but newborns have been mildly affected if at all. By Apoorva Mandavilli Newborns and babies have so far seemed to be largely unaffected by the ...

Placental malaria as a consequence of Plasmodium falciparum infections can lead to severe complications for both mother and child. Each year, placental malaria causes nearly 200,000 newborn deaths, ...

Sperm doesn’t shift into high gear in mammals just to show off, new research shows. It originally needed that extra speed to break the egg barrier. Later on, evolution enabled sperm to use its ...