February's meeting will be led by Professor Graham Burton, Emeritus Mary Marshall and Arthur Walton Professor of the Physiology of Reproduction
Our reading group provides an interdisciplinary space for engaging discussions on reproduction in all its forms. All welcome, postgraduate and staff! You'll need to be based in Cambridge though as sessions are in person only.
We dive into texts that examine reproduction not only from biological and medical standpoints but also explore cultural, social, ethical, and political dimensions.
February's meeting will be led by Professor Graham Burton, Emeritus Mary Marshall and Arthur Walton Professor of the Physiology of Reproduction (retired) and Founding Director of Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research
RSVP to join February's session
Introduction from Graham Burton
During pregnancy there is a bi-directional transfer of cells with stem-cell properties across the placenta; fetal cells passing to the mother and maternal cells to the fetus. In both situations a small number of the cells persist for several decades, and hence the phenomenon is referred to as microchimerism.
First recognised in the late 1990’s, there are still many unresolved questions about the significance, if any, of the traffic.
This session will focus on the biology and implications of fetal cells persisting in the mother’s body. The review by Boddy et al. is not the most recent but presents a balanced introduction to the topic. More recent considerations that we might discuss include implications for surrogacy, mother-baby bonding, and transgenerational trafficking.
More about the Cambridge Reading Group on Reproduction