Maternal-Fetal Cross Talk: Harmony vs. Conflict

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Maternal-Fetal Cross Talk: Harmony vs. Conflict, organized by Drs. Jeff Murray, Louis J. Muglia and Yoel Sadovsky. The conference will be held in Washington, D.C. from October 4-8, 2017. The interactions between the mother and the fetus during the progression of normal pregnancy involve trade-offs, or even conflicts, between factors that improve maternal health and those that support fetal development and growth. These may lead to selective evolutionary pressures that differ among species, and result in intriguing differences in reproductive strategies that enhance maternal-fetal biological harmony, and mitigate conflict. Strategies to balance these pressures include imprinting, coincident with placentation. Adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as miscarriage, preterm birth, preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction, are heterogeneous, and gaps remain in understanding how imbalances between maternal and fetal adaptations contribute to these disorders. The goal of this meeting is to bring together investigators from diverse disciplines who investigate maternal and fetal factors that shape pregnancy outcomes by exploring how these systems work together or are at odds. The conference will aim to develop these concepts, illuminating developmental, genomic/epigenomic, immune, microbial and metabolic factors as well as consider how acute exposures during pregnancy, such as infection, shape maternal-fetal outcomes. Understanding the biology underpinning these considerations will contribute to better diagnosis, treatment and disease prevention during pregnancy.