Center for Prenatal, Neonatal and Maternal Health Research

Placenta, Exosome and Nanoparticle Laboratory

About the Lab

The placenta, a vital organ shared by the mother and fetus, plays a central role in maternal-fetal gas exchange, transfer of nutrients and waste, hormone production and immunological defense. The placenta also communicates signals that are essential for pregnancy health. The outer layer of the placenta comprises specialized cells called syncytiotrophoblasts. These multinucleated cells are in direct contact with maternal blood and are the key to making the placenta work properly throughout pregnancy.

In addition to hormones, growth factors and other signaling proteins released into the maternal circulation, the syncytiotrophoblast layer also produces a wide array of lipid-encapsulated extracellular vesicles (EVs), including apoptotic cell-derived EVs, microvesicles and nano-sized EVs, commonly referred to as Exosomes.

The Ouyang Laboratory studies the biology of the human placenta and cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern placental communication at the maternal-fetal interface.


  • Lab Focus Areas

    Developing Brain Institute

    Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

  • Partnerships

    Institute for Biomedical Sciences (IBS) Program

    George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

  • Contact

    Yingshi Ouyang, PhD Principal Investigator

Funding Highlight

  • Multimodal Analysis of Gestational Health and Placental Injury in Opioid-Affected; R01DA059176

    This award centers on the adverse impact of illicit opioid use during pregnancy and its devastating consequences on the mother, fetus and the placenta. By integrating multimodal technologies and assessments, including single-cell RNA transcriptomics, spatial transcriptomics and chip-cytometric methods and analysis of placental extracellular vesicle, we will shed new light on mechanisms underlying opioid-dependent placental dysfunction and diseases during pregnancy and infancy.

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