A/Prof Jo James
@drjojames.bsky.social
Placenta obsessed scientist working to better understand and predict why some babies are born dangerously small, teacher, mentor, mum, outdoor explorer. She/her
A shout out to various members of my team who have been spending way too much time recently in dark basements imaging bits of placenta with the new lightsheet microscope (with much troubleshooting) and processing the resulting datasets… but the results when it works! 🤩 @anzpra1.bsky.social
August 19, 2025 at 1:00 AM
A shout out to various members of my team who have been spending way too much time recently in dark basements imaging bits of placenta with the new lightsheet microscope (with much troubleshooting) and processing the resulting datasets… but the results when it works! 🤩 @anzpra1.bsky.social
New record - got a manuscript outcome notification today for a paper I submitted in November 2023 🤯 TWENTY-ONE MONTHS to reach a first decision of minor revisions. The system is broken. 😒 #atleastitwasntrejected
August 14, 2025 at 9:29 AM
New record - got a manuscript outcome notification today for a paper I submitted in November 2023 🤯 TWENTY-ONE MONTHS to reach a first decision of minor revisions. The system is broken. 😒 #atleastitwasntrejected
Feels like it’s been a while between papers.. but pleased to say our latest is now out! Here we used the side-population technique to isolate trophoblast stem cells from term placentas, showing that in FGR they grow slower, die more easily, and have impaired differentiation. doi.org/10.1016/j.ye...
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kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
July 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Feels like it’s been a while between papers.. but pleased to say our latest is now out! Here we used the side-population technique to isolate trophoblast stem cells from term placentas, showing that in FGR they grow slower, die more easily, and have impaired differentiation. doi.org/10.1016/j.ye...
Fun day at the Rosehill College Hauora expo sharing our love of all things placenta, and our work aimed at better interpreting ultrasound in pregnancy to improve detection of at risk babies. New hologram was a hit (looks better irl), and tons of kids through 😃 #teamplacenta #pregnancymodellinggroup
July 25, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Fun day at the Rosehill College Hauora expo sharing our love of all things placenta, and our work aimed at better interpreting ultrasound in pregnancy to improve detection of at risk babies. New hologram was a hit (looks better irl), and tons of kids through 😃 #teamplacenta #pregnancymodellinggroup
Congrats to Dr Cherry Sun on officially joining the floppy hat club yesterday! 🥂🌟 Cherry’s thesis showed functional impairments in trophoblast stem cells from FGR placentae - they grow slower, die easier, & differentiate differently - which may explain placental changes seen in this disorder.
May 15, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Congrats to Dr Cherry Sun on officially joining the floppy hat club yesterday! 🥂🌟 Cherry’s thesis showed functional impairments in trophoblast stem cells from FGR placentae - they grow slower, die easier, & differentiate differently - which may explain placental changes seen in this disorder.
Super grateful for this generous philanthropic support of our work to develop sex-specific virtual placenta models, which we hope to use to develop more personalised tools to aid early identification of babies at risk of being born dangerously small.
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025...
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025...
Alumnus bolsters world-first projects at University research institutes - The University of AucklandFacebookTwitterYouTubeLinkedInInstagramWomen's Refuge
Up to 30 percent of babies in neonatal intensive care will be impacted by a rare disorder. Currently, that equates to around 500 babies born each year who have a rare undiagnosed genetic disorder.
www.auckland.ac.nz
May 7, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Super grateful for this generous philanthropic support of our work to develop sex-specific virtual placenta models, which we hope to use to develop more personalised tools to aid early identification of babies at risk of being born dangerously small.
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025...
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025...
My pleasure to talk about our work on data-driven models of the feto-placental circulation at #SRI2025 in Charlotte today. Thank you to the audience for so much wonderful interaction after! 🙏
March 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
My pleasure to talk about our work on data-driven models of the feto-placental circulation at #SRI2025 in Charlotte today. Thank you to the audience for so much wonderful interaction after! 🙏
Saw the below chart, realised that individual universities in the US can get about 5x more $ from the NIH alone than our entire country has available to apply for from its two biggest funders (HRC and Marsden, together ~$200 million NZD). Cool cool.
All this futzing with NIH research funding sure would be lousy for a region where the largest employer ranks third in NIH funding nationally.
Say, what’s this?
Say, what’s this?
February 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Saw the below chart, realised that individual universities in the US can get about 5x more $ from the NIH alone than our entire country has available to apply for from its two biggest funders (HRC and Marsden, together ~$200 million NZD). Cool cool.
👏👏👏 what BMJ said 👏👏👏
BMJ: "instruct[ing] scientists to withdraw or retract articles from journals is sinister...We will not retract articles on the basis that they contain so-called banned words.." www.bmj.com/content/388/...
Medical journal editors must resist CDC order and anti-gender ideology
The news that on 31 January 2025 the Trump administration instructed scientists employed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to withdraw or retract articles from medical and sci...
www.bmj.com
February 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
👏👏👏 what BMJ said 👏👏👏
Reposted by A/Prof Jo James
The list of forbidden words for scientific researchers in the United States of America in the year 2025.
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
February 4, 2025 at 2:57 AM
The list of forbidden words for scientific researchers in the United States of America in the year 2025.
Hey placenta/pregnancy people - happy to share that we've now set #ANZPRA up over here! 🥳
👋 Hi, Bluesky! 🦋 We’re ANZPRA, a society for researchers in Australia & NZ studying all aspects of the placenta and its role in pregnancy. Follow us for updates on placental biology, pregnancy disorders & research community news! #TeamPlacenta #PregnancyResearch 🔬
January 30, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Hey placenta/pregnancy people - happy to share that we've now set #ANZPRA up over here! 🥳
Beautiful review on the placental vasculature and is known of its altered function in pre-eclampsia by Hanna Allerkamp and colleagues at MedUniGraz👏 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Exploring the Lifeline: Unpacking the Complexities of Placental Vascular Function in Normal and Preeclamptic Pregnancies
The proper development and function of the placenta are essential for the success of pregnancy and the well-being of both the fetus and the mother. Placental vascular function facilitates efficient f....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 3, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Beautiful review on the placental vasculature and is known of its altered function in pre-eclampsia by Hanna Allerkamp and colleagues at MedUniGraz👏 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by A/Prof Jo James
We can tell the truth about pregnancy without scaring women to death – in fact, it’s vital that we do | Emily Oster
We can tell the truth about pregnancy without scaring women to death – in fact, it’s vital that we do | Emily Oster
Many women have no idea about the potential complications until they happen. Without discussion there is no treatment or prevention
There is an inherent tension between two basic facts about childbirth. On the one hand, it has happened billions and…
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2025 at 12:12 PM
We can tell the truth about pregnancy without scaring women to death – in fact, it’s vital that we do | Emily Oster
Congratulations to Anandita Umapathy on her PhD graduation today! Great to have her back in NZ to celebrate together 🥳 🥂#sillyhatday @aucklanduni.bsky.social
December 10, 2024 at 7:31 AM
Congratulations to Anandita Umapathy on her PhD graduation today! Great to have her back in NZ to celebrate together 🥳 🥂#sillyhatday @aucklanduni.bsky.social
Feels like it's been a minute.. but happy to announce the latest #JamesLab paper is now out! 🥳 Here we take a dive into trophoblast organoid models to think about the role of trophoblast stem cells in organoid formation. doi.org/10.1016/j.pl... #teamplacenta #organoids
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doi.org
December 6, 2024 at 3:40 AM
Feels like it's been a minute.. but happy to announce the latest #JamesLab paper is now out! 🥳 Here we take a dive into trophoblast organoid models to think about the role of trophoblast stem cells in organoid formation. doi.org/10.1016/j.pl... #teamplacenta #organoids
🔥🔥👇👇
Proud to lead this awesome team @UniversityofFloridaCOM #onestepcloser www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Placental nanoparticle-mediated IGF1 gene therapy corrects fetal growth restriction in a guinea pig model - Gene Therapy
Gene Therapy - Placental nanoparticle-mediated IGF1 gene therapy corrects fetal growth restriction in a guinea pig model
www.nature.com
December 4, 2024 at 6:30 PM
🔥🔥👇👇
Reposted by A/Prof Jo James
More on Marsden’s dark day: There’s detailed comments via SMC www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/12/04/g...
Govt cuts humanities and social science funding - Expert Reaction
Humanities and social science funding has been cut from the Marsden Fund, the main fund for 'blue-skies' research in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The areas that have been cut include research in subjects lik...
www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
December 4, 2024 at 4:26 AM
More on Marsden’s dark day: There’s detailed comments via SMC www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/12/04/g...
A bit slow on this, but now there is a media piece.. stoked that Alys & I got a Marsden grant recently to further explore the biomechanical relationship between the placenta & heart in utero, and how this may impact fetal heart dysfunction in very small babies. 🥳🫀 www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2024...
Zooming into the womb - The University of AucklandFacebookTwitterYouTubeLinkedInInstagramWomen's Refuge
A team creating virtual models of the heart and placenta to study links between low birth weight babies and heart disease has secured $1 million in funding.
www.auckland.ac.nz
November 25, 2024 at 2:24 AM
A bit slow on this, but now there is a media piece.. stoked that Alys & I got a Marsden grant recently to further explore the biomechanical relationship between the placenta & heart in utero, and how this may impact fetal heart dysfunction in very small babies. 🥳🫀 www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2024...
Just back from a great couple of days at Tūrangawaewae marae immersing ourselves in Te Ao Maori, connecting with local communities, and having such a fun mass work sleepover. So many thanks to the #IUE team and the phenomenal maanakitanga of Tainui. Mauri ora! #teamplacenta
November 23, 2024 at 8:50 AM
Just back from a great couple of days at Tūrangawaewae marae immersing ourselves in Te Ao Maori, connecting with local communities, and having such a fun mass work sleepover. So many thanks to the #IUE team and the phenomenal maanakitanga of Tainui. Mauri ora! #teamplacenta