简介

Doug Antczak’s research program is focused on the health of horses, a passion of his from an early age. Through the Baker Institute’s Equine Genetics Center, the Antczak laboratory group has a long history of advancing basic knowledge and applying that knowledge in equine genetics, immunology, and reproduction. The cord that links these three distinct areas of science together is the intimate relationship between mother and fetus during pregnancy in mammals. A developing fetus is, in a way, like a tissue graft, a foreign piece of material transplanted from another animal. In most cases, the mother’s immune system tolerates this “graft” very well and pregnancy and birth end in a happy result because the placenta provides a protective barrier around the developing embryo and forms the interface with the mother’s uterus. For over 30 years, Dr. Antczak has investigated how the placenta and fetus avoid recognition and destruction by the mother’s immune system. The horse has been a particularly useful species in which to study this question because of several unique features of the equine placenta.