PREBIC Satellite

Preterm Birth International Collaborative (PREBIC) Satellite

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Room: E218

Organizer:
Ramkumar Menon, PhD
Professor, Division Director, Basic Science and Translational Research, Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Executive Director – PREBIC Global


SESSION I

Moderators:
Sam Mesiano, PhD
PRESIDENT, PREBIC

Brandie D. Taylor, PhD
Treasurer, PREBIC

8:20 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Preterm Birth International Collaborative Activities
Sam Mesiano, PhD
President, PREBIC
Professor, Case Western Reserve University

8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Advances in antenatal corticosteroid use for preterm birth
Tina Lavin, MD
Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (SRH), Maternal Health Unit, World Health Organization

9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Predicting maternal-fetal exposure to drugs throughout pregnancy using physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling and simulation
Jashwant Unadkat, PhD
Professor, School of Pharmacy, Dept. of Pharmaceutics, Univ. of Washington

9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

COFFEE BREAK

Session II

Moderators:
Dilly OC Anumba, MBBS FWACS FRCOG MD LL.M
Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Sheffield
Division of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine & Population Health
Faculty of Health, The University of Sheffield
PREBIC, Board of Directors

Claudia Verónica Zaga Clavellina, PhD
Instituto Nacional de Perinatología Isidro Espinosa de los Reyes
Department of Immunohistochemistry
Fetal-Placental Immunology Lab
Mexico City, Mexico
Director Board Member, PREBIC, North America Branch

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Trophoblast cells at the uterine-placental interface
Michael J Soares, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine KU Medical center
The University of Kansas

10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Multimodal decoding of pregnancy through single cell genomics, imaging, and AI
Jian Shu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology, MIT
Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Maternal gut microbiota influences fetal programming of offspring brain and behavior, implications for pre-term birth
Shelly Buffington, PhD
Assistant Professor, Center for Precision Environmental Health, Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Preeclampsia and the maternal brain
Lina Bergman, MD, PhD
Senior obstetrician and Gynecologist
Associate Professor
Research group leader Preeclampsia Translational Research
Department of clinical sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

LUNCH BREAK

Session III

Moderators: 
Sudeshna Tripathy, PhD
Assistant Staff Scientist
Oregon National Primate Research Center/Oregon Health and Science University

Ourlad Tantengco, MD, PhD
Board of Directors – PREBIC
Assistant Professor, Division of Basic Science and Translational Research
Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Texas Medical Branch

1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Uterine tissue mapping and clinical phenotyping: the keys to unlock the mechanisms of preterm labour
Natasha Singh, MBBS, MD(Res), FRCOG
Consultant Obstetrician
Clinical Director for Obstetrics, Lead for Clinical Research
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
Director, PREBIC European Branch

2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

A Multi-Site Validation of First Trimester, Circulating Microparticle Biomarkers for Risk Stratification of Spontaneous Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Mothers
Kevin P. Rosenblatt, MD, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
NX Prenatal

2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. 

A high throughput 3D bioprinted human placenta as a novel predictive platform to study drug safety and pathological conditions during pregnancy.
Cristina Acedo Antich, PhD
Research Scientist, Division of Preclinical Innovation, 3-D Tissue Bioprinting Laboratory
National Center for Advanced Translational Science (NCATS), National Institute of Health (NIH)

3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Defining fetal-maternal interface barriers using next-gen microphysiological systems 
Lauren Richardson, PhD
Assistant Professor & Director, Reproductive Bioengineering Laboratory
Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

COFFEE BREAK

Session IV

Moderator:
Egle Prewitt, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Division of Reproductive Research
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Texas Health San Antonio, TX

4:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Frenemies! Mechanistic insights into how vaginal microbiota shape preterm birth risk
David A. MacIntyre, PhD
Professor, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Australia
March of Dimes Prematurity Research Centre at Imperial College London