The Tree(s) of Life: The Human Placenta and My Journey to Learn More about It

I have always been fascinated by the mechanisms by which viruses, and other microorganisms, bypass and/or cross cellular barriers to enter their human hosts. As a trainee and young investigator, my research primarily focused on how enteroviruses cross the barriers presented by the epithelium and endothelium. Yet, despite all my years focused on cellular barriers, there was a barrier I had always overlooked, until faced with the stark reality of its importance—the placenta, which forms the barrier between mother and her developing baby during pregnancy. Early in my pregnancy, as I sat prepping large volumes of highly infectious enteroviruses, a question suddenly occurred to me: “What is protecting my baby from these viruses?” A quick