Sean Harris
University of Michigan, MI·Pharmacology
A healthy pregnancy depends on a careful immune balance in the uterus, the fetal membranes and the placenta. These tissues must fight off harmful microbes while also tolerating the fetus, which is partly foreign to the mother's body.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Public Health & Epidemiology
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
reproductive toxicology
immunotoxicology
volatile organic compounds
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2031
What they work on
- Assess how TCE and PCE breakdown products affect the microbe-fighting functions of primary decidual macrophages. These are immune cells in the uterine lining that are key defenders against infection.
- Identify how TCE and PCE breakdown products, such as DCVC, change host defense responses to Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in human fetal membrane tissue explants, which are pieces of tissue kept alive in the lab.
- Profile gene activity in specific immune cell types in the placentas of pregnant rats treated with TCE or PCE, with or without GBS infection, using transcriptomic analysis, which measures which genes are switched on.
- Determine whether TCE or PCE exposure leads to more GBS colonization of the uterus, fetal membranes and placenta in a pregnant rat model.
More about the research
Environmental pollutants can disrupt the immune system, but little is known about how they affect immune function in pregnancy tissues. Filling this gap could help prevent poor pregnancy outcomes linked to pollution.
Why it matters
Infections of the uterus and disrupted immune processes can lead to preterm birth, miscarriage, fetal growth restriction and newborn sepsis. TCE and PCE are common environmental contaminants that have been linked to poor pregnancy outcomes. By identifying how these chemicals weaken immune defenses in pregnancy tissues, this work could reveal molecular targets for protecting exposed pregnant people and their babies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kristen Noble
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Define gene programs activated by Group B Streptococcus infection in gestational tissues at different stages of pregnancy, using single-cell sequencing.
Mana M Parast
University of California-San Diego, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether villitis of unknown etiology (VUE) linked to fetal growth restriction has a distinct cellular profile of chronic immune responses and trophoblast or endothelial damage, using mass cytometry on banked placental tissue.
Emily Adhikari
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Define types of placental tissue damage in pregnancies with syphilis and correlate them with Treponema pallidum burden and newborn outcomes, compared with gestational age–matched healthy controls.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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