Join us for the next event in our Institute's fall 2025 Speaker Series featuring Ramkumar Menon, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Mildred Harvey and Phyllis Hankins Maternal Fetal Medicine Distinguished Chair, University of Texas Medical Branch. 

This event is sponsored by the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R). 

Human pregnancy is a fascinating yet complex physiological state in which two individuals coexist harmoniously within a single body for nearly ten months. However, several risk factors can complicate this harmony, resulting in adverse pregnancy outcomes like premature birth (birth before 37 weeks of gestation) that happens in ~ 12% of pregnancies. Premature birth is associated with neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality, where preterm neonates experience early development of adult-onset diseases and their mothers experience higher incidences of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and other complications. No new drugs have been approved in the past 4 decades to prevent premature birth, partly due to fears of the toxicity of drugs on the growing fetus. The current models have limitations in deriving conclusions on human pregnancy and pregnancy complications. Mechanistic and pharmacologic data derived from animal and current laboratory models are insufficient to convince regulatory authorities (e.g., Food & Drug Administration [FDA]) to approve drugs, as they do not resemble human pregnancy or replicate in utero events in humans. The FDA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend the use of New Approach Methods (NAMs) that use human-derived cells. Examples of NAMs include organoids, 3D printed human organs, and organ-on-a-chip that recreates multiple organs on a small platform or AI/ML-based approaches. To study human pregnancy, parturition (labor and delivery), and preterm birth, we have developed the entire human pregnancy-on-a-chip (POC). This microphysiologic platform uses 14 different human pregnancy organ-derived maternal and fetal cells that are interconnected through microchannels to maintain feto-maternal communications and intercellular interactions to mimic human pregnancy. POC based data comparison revealed > 85% correlation to human pregnancy and non-human primate (NHP) pregnancy-derived data. This data suggest that POC is adequate to study human pregnancy and can Refine, Reduce and Replace the use of animals (Three R principles) to study human pregnancy and pregnancy-associated disease states as required by regulatory agencies like the FDA and EPA. Furthermore, POC can be developed as a ‘drug development tool (DDT)’ where preclinical drug trials can be conducted to accelerate clinical trials during pregnancy, where pregnant women and their fetuses do not have to remain therapeutic orphans. The Texas Center of Perinatal Research Center of Excellence, sponsored by the March of Dimes, USA, at the University of Texas Medical Branch (PI- Ramkumar Menon, PhD), will explore the utility of these new and revolutionary technologies to reduce the burden of preterm birth, neonatal and maternal morbidities and mortalities.   

To join via zoom remotely:

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://uark.zoom.us/j/86874549003?pwd=QUT9KfjXl1x8SiLL1LlrnTCsgEPWqU.1