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.

Congratulations Hiroaki Soma

Professor Hiroaki Soma (at left) recipient of the 2018
IFPA Senior Award

It is a pleasure to record that my good friend and colleague Hiroaki Soma received the Senior Award of the International Federation of Placenta Associations at their recent meeting in Tokyo.

In his address, Professor Soma looked back over 60 years of research including important clinical work on gestational trophoblastic disease in Japan and placental lesions associated with pregnancy at high altitude in Nepal.

In addition, he gave valuable insights about comparative placentation. The range of mammals included chinchilla, giant panda. Japanese serow, sloth, chimpanzee, elephant, manatee and hyrax. As if this were not enough, Professor Soma also presented his research on pregnancy in sharks and rays conducted at the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa. 

Kurt Benirschke (1924 - 2018)

Kurt Benirschke (right) with Oliver Ryder

Sad to record the death of Kurt Benirschke at age 94. Among many achievements is his web site Comparative Placentation (previous post). This invaluable resource is particularly strong on primates and even-toed ungulates such as antelopes.

The placentas came mainly from San Diego Zoo where Kurt Benirschke also took the initiative to create a biobank of cryopreserved tissues (The Frozen Zoo) and laid the foundation for what became San Diego Global's Institute for Conservation Research. 

To many he is best known for his textbook Placental Pathology. The second  (1990) and subsequent editions were written with Peter Kaufmann. It is now in a sixth edition edited by Kurt Benirschke, Graham Burton and Rebecca Baergen.

The Annual Kurt Benirschke Lecture at UC San Diego 2018

Five years ago Kurt Benirschke suffered a stroke but he remained active and alert. According to today's obituary in San Diego Union Tribune, he and his wife visited San Diego Zoo as recently as last week. 

To learn about Kurt Benirschke's life in his own words see the short version here or his interview with Rebecca Baergen here.