Placental Assessment in Response to Environmental Pollution

How environmental pollution contributes to poor pregnancy outcome is poorly understood. The first trimester of pregnancy is a particularly vulnerable time period for the developing fetus and a mother's exposure to air pollution may alter the way that the placenta is established and how it functions throughout the rest of pregnancy. This project aims to expand and develop new MRI technologies to assess real-time placental structure and function as pregnancy develops from the first to the third trimester so that early detection, prevention strategies, and early treatment of placental dysfunction as a result of pollution exposures may be developed.