Congratulations to Sofie Lykke Møller

Sofie Lykke Møller's Ph.D. Thesis

Sofie Lykke Møller successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis last week. It was my privilege to be one of her examiners. This is part of an ambitious project conducted in rural Tanzania by researchers from the University of Copenhagen (here). Sofie examined the vasculature of placenta at term and related her findings to a history of anaemia (here) or malaria (here) at various stages of pregnancy.

After the oral exam: Anthony Carter, Sofie Lykke Møller,
Annetine Staff and Peter Damm

This involved a sophisticated stereological analysis with random sampling of the placenta in the field and random orientation of the tissue blocks for sectioning in the laboratory.

Anaemia or malaria in the second half of pregnancy led to adaptive responses that included increases in the length and surface area of the capillaries in the terminal villi. 

Malaria infection before 14 weeks of gestation was reflected in changes at term including a reduction in the volume of intermediate villi and thickening of the endothelial component of the interhaemal barrier. Thus even though entry to the intervillous space is limited at this time, the surface proteins on infected erythrocytes seem able to hinder normal placental development.