Novel Imaging Technologies in Reproductive Physiology

Flex Session — Wednesday, April 26, 2024 — 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM — , Room W193
Endocrinology and Metabolism Section — Chair: Liliya M. Yamaleyeva — Co-Chair: Sarah H. Lindsey

Based on the World Health Statistics 2016 report of the World Health Organization (WHO) 303,000 women die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth in the world each year. Placental dysfunction induces abnormal maternal and neonatal outcomes including preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and stillbirth.  The accurate assessment of placental function throughout pregnancy is important for our understanding of the role of the suboptimal placental development in pregnancy progression and outcome. The field of reproduction heavily relies on ultrasound-based techniques partly because of proven safety, low cost, and ease of access to this technology.   However conventional ultrasound does not offer dynamic assessments of placental or fetal characteristics such as oxygenation, perfusion, or vascular development. The goal of this symposium is to provide a platform for discussion of some of the novel technologies including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and photoacoustic imaging that can be applied for the assessments of placental function and utroplacental vascular development. Furthermore, these novel technologies could be used for the imaging of other than pregnancy physiological and pathological states associated with poor tissue perfusion; thus the context of this symposium will be of interest to scientists working in other than reproduction areas including metabolic, endocrine, cardiovascular, renal, and cancer research.

Speakers

• Placenta Imaging Project: Using MRI to Understand Development
  Antonio Frias — Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Oregon Health and Science University


• Placental vascular patterning in the mouse: relating hemodynamics to vascular architecture
  John G. Sled — Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto


• Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound/Microbubble Technology for Targeted Delivery of Genes and Quantification of Microvessel Flow in the Primate
  Gerald J. Pepe — Department of Physiological Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School


• Photoacoustic imaging  for in vivo quantification of placental oxygenation
  Liliya M. Yamaleyeva — Department of Surgery/Hypertension and Vascular Research, Wake Forest School of Medicine