Rutgers University, Tulane University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Rochester teamed up to launch a research center dedicated to solve the mystery of how the placenta keeps harmful substances away from developing babies while still providing proper nutrition.
A $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help fund the Integrated Transporter Elucidation Center (InTEC), which will operate from the Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences campus in Piscataway under the leadership of Lauren Aleksunes, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and resident scientist in the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI).
“Since my time working as a community pharmacist, I have found the lack of high-quality information about the safety of everyday products on the health of a pregnancy frustrating. People need to know whether the chemicals in their diet, personal care products, and medications can impact their babies. Our goal at InTEC is to better understand how these chemicals travel in and out of the placenta and if they can reach the baby and influence their development.” Aleksunes said.
Source: Rutgers Today (October 30, 2023)
Copyright © 2021, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey