How does the placenta keep harmful substances away from developing babies while still providing proper nutrition? The exact mechanisms remain unknown, which is why 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 solving this mystery and ensuring healthy pregnancies.
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). To read the full story.