Vascular Biology of the Placenta: Second Edition (Colloquium Integrated Systems Physiology: From Molecule to Function to Disease)

The placenta is an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall, thereby allowing nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. Proper vascular development in the placenta is fundamental to ensuring a healthy fetus and successful pregnancy. This book provides an up-to-date summary and synthesis of knowledge regarding placental vascular biology and discusses the relevance of this vascular bed to the functions of the human placenta.

Dr. Yuping Wang is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport (LSUHSC-Shreveport), Louisiana. She received her M.D. degree in medicine from Harbin Medical University, China, in 1980 and her Ph.D. degree in physiology from Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, USA, in 1994. In 1997, Dr. Wang joined the faculty of LSUHSC-Shreveport, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her major research fields are placental and endothelial function in pregnancy and pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia. She is a member of several scientific societies including the Society for Reproductive Investigation, the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy, Perinatal Research Society, and the American Physiological Society. Dr. Wang has received a number of grants including National Institutes of Health, NICHD, and NHLBI and served as a standing member of the NIH pregnancy and perinatology study section. She also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Wang is a co-author of over 120 publications on original research or reviews in the field of placenta, trophoblast and endothelial function, kidney injury in pregnancy, and preeclampsia.

D. Neil Granger, Ph.D., is Boyd Professor and Head of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana.

His current research is focused on the role of the microcirculation in acute and chronic inflammation, and how risk factors for cardiovascular disease influence microvascular function. Granger has served on the editorial boards of the Heart & Circulation, GI & Liver, and Cell sections of the American Journal of Physiology, as well as Circulation Research, Microcirculation, Shock, Pathophysiology, Free Radical Biology & Medicine, Lymphatic Research and Biology, and Nitric Oxide Biology & Chemistry. He was Editor-in-Chief of Microcirculation and an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology: GI & Liver Physiology.

Dr. Granger was a member of the Clinical Sciences-2, Cardiovascular & Renal, and General Medicine-A2 Study Sections and the Gastrointestinal Mucosal Pathobiology Study Sections. He also served on several peer review panels and policy committees for the American Heart Association, the Research Committee of the American Gastroenterological Association, the Board of Directors of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the Physiology Test Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Granger served as President of the American Physiological Society (APS) and the Microcirculatory Society (MCS).

He has received several awards and honors for his research, including the APS Bowditch Award, the Distinguished Research Award from the GI Section of the APS, the Landis Award from the US Microcirculatory Society, the Laerdal Award from the Society for Critical Care Medicine, the McKenna Memorial Award from the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, the Dolph Adams Award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology, the Career of Distinction Award from the Oxygen Society, the Nishimaru-Tsuchiya International Award from the Japanese Microcirculatory Society, the Robert M Berne Lectureship from the APS, and the Benjamin W. Zweifach Award from the US Microcirculatory Society. He was also designated a Highly Cited Investigator by the Institute for Scientific Information.

Joey P. Granger, Ph.D., is the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor, Professor of Physiology and Medicine, Director of the Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular Renal Research, and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. He earned his doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1983.

Dr. Granger currently served as President of the American Physiological Society and is an Associate Editor for Hypertension. He has also served as the Editor of the Council for High Blood Pressure Newsletter and an Associate Editor for News in Physiological Sciences and American Journal of Physiology. He has served as a member of Editorial Boards of American Journal of Hypertension, American Journal of Physiology-Renal, American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory and Integrative Physiology, Journal of CardioMetabolic Syndrome and the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension.

He has served on scientific study sections for the American Heart Association (AHA), National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the Veterans Administration. He now serves as chair of the Hypertension and Microcirculation NIH study section. He has received several awards including the E.H. Starling Distinguished Lecture Award, the Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award, and the Bowditch Award from the American Physiological Society (APS), the Dahl Memorial Lecture of the AHA, American Society of Hypertension Young Scholar Award, the International Society of Hypertension Demuth Research Award, Inter-American Society of Hypertension Young Investigator Award, the Regulatory and Integrative Physiology (APS) Young Investigator Award and the Harold Lamport Award (APS) and an Established Investigator Award from the AHA. Granger's research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1984.

His research has focused on the role of the kidneys in the pathogenesis of hypertension, and the role of endothelial and neurohormonal factors in mediating hypertension in animal models of preeclampsia. His laboratory is also investigating the role of the renal endothelin system in salt-sensitive hypertension.