PREFACE

Placenta and Reproductive Medicine: A resource for maternal and fetal health

Nanbert Zhong¹, Chong Qiao²

¹New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island 10314, NY, USA;

²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China

Prof. Nanbert Zhong, E-mail: nanbert.zhong@opwdd.ny.gov

Received: 08 June 2022

Accepted: 09 June 2022

Published: 06 July 2022

It is our great pleasure to announce the official launch of the new journal Placenta and Reproductive Medicine (PRM), a resource for maternal and fetal health.

The placenta is an organ that develops during pregnancy. Normal development and function of the placenta may be directly associated with fetal development and maternal health. Pathophysiological changes in the placenta can have an impact on maternal health, such as the pregnancy complications of (pre)eclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus and embryonic-fetal conditions of miscarriage, stillbirth, intrauterine growth retardation, low weight birth, and preterm birth, including spontaneous preterm labor and preterm premature rupture of fetal membrane.

The aim of PRM will be to provide a platform for translational medicine to link laboratory research studies with clinical practice. Particular emphasis will be given to the clinical application of advanced progress in singlecell sequencing, epigenetic regulation, gene editing, extracellular vesicles including exosomes, bioengineering, tissue-on-chip, intrauterine imaging (ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging), bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to prevention and intervention strategies in maternal and fetal health. In addition to maternal fetal medicine, PRM will address paternal fetal medicine. Studies of experimental animal models, especially non-human primates, are welcome, in that they may help improve understanding of the early stages of placental development and function and of their impact on pathophysiological pregnancies. We also invite the submission of therapeutic studies, from identification of biomarkers and drug targets to clinical trials and commercialization, as they may benefit the clinical management of maternal and fetal health.

We encourage research scientists and clinical physicians to contribute their studies to this exciting journal and to share their insights with the research community. We look forward to working with you and to providing you the best service, as we together contribute to the success of PRM.