BIBHASH C. PARIA, Ph.D
associate professor,
department of pediatrics

Failures of normal preimplantation embryo development, blastocyst implantation and protection of the implanted embryo from the maternal immunological reactions are the major clinical problems that have driven intense research efforts to identify the signals or mediators responsible for these processes. Using mice (wild-type and transgenic) and hamsters as laboratory animal models and approaches like identification of specific genes by differential display and gene array, my laboratory in collaboration with the laboratories of Drs. Dey, Das and Reese is trying to identify the embryonic and/or uterine molecules essential for preimplantation embryo development and implantation. The implications of this research are relevant for fertility/infertility, uterine cancer and other early pregnancy related disorders.