Principal investigator
Research interests
Drug exposure during pregnancy is increasingly common in modern society, with risks
to the developing embryo/fetus.
The placenta is the gatekeeper to the fetus through
which drugs and other chemical must pass. Placental drug transporters are able to
reduce fetal exposure to a wide variety of xenobiotics through their ability to
efflux substrates from fetoplacental tissues into the maternal circulation for excretion.
We are studying the action and regulation of a number of drug efflux pumps in the
placenta, and are also exploring their role as transporters of endogenous lipid
substrates, protectors of placental viability and facilitators of placental cell differentiation and function.
