Blog

While my recent post about a placental estrogen receptor pointed to the mechanisms by which mom’s systems can protect a developing fetus from inflammation, immune changes during pregnancy can also benefit mom.  Medical scientists have long recognized that mothers tend to have milder...

My recent post described a newly identified mechanism by which mom’s placenta protected the developing fetus from mom’s viral infections. Here you can read about how the unhindered interferon pathway leads to major damage during Zika virus infection.  This virus creates life...

Although both scientists and parents express relief for the general protection of developing fetuses from the average viral infection, neither have understood the means of protection. While specific infections do evade this barrier and cause harm, the vast majority of viruses are stopped, and...