Tell us about the nature of your scientific work?
My research focuses on growth abnormalities in children when they are still in their mother’s womb, this is called in utero growth retardation. It reflects a dysfunction of the placenta which, for now, cannot be diagnosed early. My research therefore aims above all to understand growth abnormalities and the functioning of the placenta, which plays a central role in the development of the fetus.
How can this placental dysfunction be serious?
The risk is that the child is no longer irrigated at all and dies in utero. Today, to avoid this, many patients are monitored. This leads us, sometimes, to intervene to give birth to the child prematurely. However, we know that there are often consequences for the child. Prematurity is the leading cause of child disability, intellectual or motor.
It is the placenta that guarantees growth…
