Pregnancy complications lead to more than 260,000 maternal deaths and millions of infant deaths globally. One serious condition in pregnancy linked to placental dysfunction is preeclampsia, which affects 5%–8% of pregnancies.

The study, led by Associate Professor Lana McClements and first author Dr. Claire Richards, from the UTS School of Life Sciences, has just been published in the journal Nature Communications.

“Obtaining first trimester placental tissue is not practical or safe, making early pregnancy challenging to study. By the time a baby is born, the placenta has changed so much that it no longer reflects what it was like in early pregnancy,” said Dr. McClements.