Maternal-Fetal Crosstalk: Harmony vs. Conflict

Organizer(s): Jeffrey C. Murray, Louis J. Muglia and Yoel Sadovsky

Part of the Keystone Symposia Global Health Series, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Summary of Meeting:

The interactions between the mother and the fetus during the progression of normal pregnancy involve trade-offs, or even conflicts, between factors that improve maternal health and those that support fetal development and growth. These may lead to selective evolutionary pressures that differ among species, and result in intriguing differences in reproductive strategies that enhance maternal-fetal biological harmony, and mitigate conflict. Intriguing strategies to balance these pressures include imprinting, coincident with placentation. Adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as miscarriage, preterm birth, preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction, are heterogeneous, and gaps remain in understanding how imbalances between maternal and fetal adaptations contribute to these disorders. The goal of this conference is to bring together investigators from diverse disciplines who investigate maternal and fetal factors that shape pregnancy outcomes by exploring how these systems work together or are at odds. The conference will aim to develop these concepts, illuminating developmental, genomic/epigenomic, immune, microbial and metabolic factors, as well as consider how acute exposures during pregnancy, such as infection, shape maternal-fetal outcomes. Understanding the biology underpinning these considerations will contribute to better diagnosis, treatment and disease prevention during pregnancy. The presentations will address critical gaps in our knowledge of maternal/fetal harmony and conflict, and target paths to improve understanding of issues related to social, economic and geographic inequality that predispose some groups to enhanced risk during pregnancy. A better understanding of the biology, development of new collaborative possibilities and paths to improved clinical outcomes are primary goals of the meeting.

Global Health Travel Award Deadline: May 23 2017

Scholarship Deadline: June 6 2017

Discounted Abstract Deadline: June 6 2017

Abstract Deadline: July 11 2017

Discounted Registration Deadline: August 10 2017

Keystone Symposia thanks our Sponsor(s) for generously supporting this meeting:

We gratefully acknowledge additional support for this conference from:

We gratefully acknowledge the generous grant for this conference provided by:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Grant No. 1R13HD093420-01
Funding for this conference was made possible (in part) by 1R13HD093420-01 from the National Institutes of Health. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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