The people behind the papers – Ayelen Moreno-Irusta and Michael J. Soares

In placental mammals, fetal trophoblast cells invade the maternal uterine tissue to invade the placenta. Many conserved molecular players, such as PLAC1, are involved in this process of placentation; however, their mechanistic roles remain unclear. In a new study, Ayelen Moreno-Irusta, Michael J. Soares and colleagues show that PLAC1 has a conserved role in both rat and human placentation, although it acts on species-specific cell populations. To learn more about how this story developed and the people behind it, we spoke to first and corresponding author, Ayelen Moreno-Irusta, as well as corresponding author Michael J. Soares, University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas, USA.