Cambridge Reading Group on Reproduction - February

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• Professor Graham Burton
• Tuesday 11 February 2025, 12:30-14:30
• Room CGO 9 @ Student Services Centre - Old Cavendish East Wing.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact ts930.

Our reading group provides an interdisciplinary space for engaging discussions on reproduction in all its forms. All welcome, postgraduate and staff! You’ll need to be based in Cambridge though as sessions are in person only.

To find out more visit https://www.repro.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-reading-group-reproduction-february-0

We dive into texts that examine reproduction not only from biological and medical standpoints but also explore cultural, social, ethical, and political dimensions.

February’s meeting will be led by Professor Graham Burton, Emeritus Mary Marshall and Arthur Walton Professor of the Physiology of Reproduction (retired) and Founding Director of Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research

Introduction from Graham Burton

Microchimerism; an underappreciated aspect of mother-offspring interaction or pregnancy epiphenomenon? https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201500059

During pregnancy there is a bi-directional transfer of cells with stem-cell properties across the placenta; fetal cells passing to the mother and maternal cells to the fetus. In both situations a small number of the cells persist for several decades, and hence the phenomenon is referred to as microchimerism.

First recognised in the late 1990’s, there are still many unresolved questions about the significance, if any, of the traffic.

This session will focus on the biology and implications of fetal cells persisting in the mother’s body. The review by Boddy et al. is not the most recent but presents a balanced introduction to the topic. More recent considerations that we might discuss include implications for surrogacy, mother-baby bonding, and transgenerational trafficking.

Session starts with lunch at 12.30, group convenes at 1pm and finishes 2pm with close at 2.30pm

This talk is part of the Cambridge Reproduction series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Cambridge Reproduction
• Room CGO 9 @ Student Services Centre - Old Cavendish East Wing

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