BCCHR Researchers Find a Researcher

Julian Christians

PhD

Affiliate Investigator, BC Children's Hospital

Prenatal development determines health throughout life, and the placenta plays a critical role in supplying the fetus with nutrients and oxygen. Carefully regulated interactions between the placenta and the lining of the mother’s uterus are crucial to normal placental development and a healthy pregnancy. Abnormalities in these interactions very early in pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or to complications that are not apparent until months later, when they may threaten the lives of the fetus and the mother. Understanding the etiology of such placental complications could facilitate monitoring and preventative treatment.

The placenta is also critical for responding to suboptimal prenatal environments. Since the placenta is genetically identical to the fetus, it has a biological sex and its responses may be sex-dependent. I am interested in placental function in health and disease, and how this may differ between the sexes.

Julian Christians

PhD

Affiliate Investigator, BC Children's Hospital

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Permutation tests to assess sex differences in omics data

Increased locomotor activity does not mitigate the effects of advanced maternal age in a mouse model

Roles of chromosomal and gonadal sex in the fetal and placental responses to maternal food restriction in mice

The whole is lesser than the sum of its parts? Dissecting layer-enriched samples of rodent placenta is worth the effort

Sex differences in growth and mortality in pregnancy-associated hypertension

Sex differences in the effects of prematurity and/or low birthweight on neurodevelopmental outcomes: systematic review and meta-analyses

Are there sex differences in fetal growth strategies and in the long-term effects of pregnancy complications on cognitive functioning?

The Placentas Role in Sexually Dimorphic Fetal Growth Strategies

Sex-dependent effects of prenatal food and protein restriction on offspring physiology in rats and mice: systematic review and meta-analyses

Recovery of the maternal skeleton after lactation is impaired by advanced maternal age but not by reduced IGF availability in the mouse

Recombinant IGF-1 Induces Sex-Specific Changes in Bone Composition and Remodeling in Adult Mice with Pappa2 Deficiency

Maternal Obesity Does Not Exacerbate the Effects of LPS Injection on Pregnancy Outcomes in Mice

Obesogenic diet exposure alters uterine natural killer cell biology and impairs vasculature remodeling in mice

Pregnancy complications recur independently of maternal vascular malperfusion lesions

Effects of high-fat diets on fetal growth in rodents: A systematic review

Pappa2 deletion has sex- and age-specific effects on bone in mice

Placental villous hypermaturation is associated with improved neonatal outcomes

PAPP-A2 deficiency does not exacerbate the phenotype of a mouse model of intrauterine growth restriction

The problem with using the birthweight:placental weight ratio as a measure of placental efficiency

A maternal high-fat, high-sucrose diet has sex-specific effects on fetal glucocorticoids with little consequence for offspring metabolism and voluntary locomotor activity in mice

Associations between imprinted gene expression in the placenta, human fetal growth and preeclampsia

An evaluation of Interprofessional group antenatal care: A prospective comparative study

ADAM12 and PAPP-A: Candidate regulators of trophoblast invasion and first trimester markers of healthy trophoblasts

Experimental reduction of haematocrit affects reproductive performance in European starlings

Haematocrit, eggshell colouration and sexual signaling in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

PAPP-A2 expression by osteoblasts is required for normal postnatal growth in mice

Pappa2 deletion in mice affects male but not female fertility

When are sex-specific effects really sex-specific?

Pappa2 deletion alters IGFBPs but has little effect on glucose disposal or adiposity

IGFBP-4 and -5 are expressed in first-trimester villi and differentially regulate the migration of HTR-8/SVneo cells

First-trimester levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A2 (PAPP-A2) in the maternal circulation are elevated in pregnancies that subsequently develop preeclampsia

Placental invasion, preeclampsia risk and adaptive molecular evolution at the origin of the great apes: Evidence from genome-wide analyses

Pregnancy Associated Plasma Protein A2 (PAPP-A2) Affects Bone Size and Shape and Contributes to Natural Variation in Postnatal Growth in Mice

A major QTL controls susceptibility to spinal curvature in the curveback guppy

Virulence in an insect model differs between mating types in Aspergillus fumigatus

Regulation of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A2 (PAPPA2) in a human placental trophoblast cell line (BeWo)

Quantitative trait locus (qtl) mapping reveals a role for unstudied genes in aspergillus virulence

Altered placental expression of PAPPA2 does not affect birth weight in mice

Altered levels of insulin-like growth factor binding protein proteases in preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction

Mononucleotide repeats represent an important source of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Aspergillus nidulans

Expression of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A2 during pregnancy in human and mouse

Influence of sex steroid hormones on spatial memory in a songbird

Fine mapping dissects pleiotropic growth quantitative trait locus into linked loci

No evidence for inbreeding avoidance in a great reed warbler population

PAPPA2, an enzyme that cleaves an insulin-like growth-factor-binding protein, is a candidate gene for a quantitative trait locus affecting body size in mice

Regulatory variation at glypican-3 underlies a major growth QTL in mice.

Behavioural genetics: Finding genes that cause complex trait variation

Regulatory variation at glypican-3 underlies a major growth QTL in mice

Behavioural genetics

Genetic complexity of an obesity QTL (Fob3) revealed by detailed genetic mapping

What causes the decrease in haematocrit during egg production?

Identification and reciprocal introgression of a QTL affecting body mass in mice

Fine mapping of a murine growth locus to a 1.4-cM region and resolution of linked QTL

Experimental dissociation of the effects of diet, age and breeding experience on primary reproductive effort in zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata

Characterization of a QTL affecting skeletal size in mice

Effects of porcine follicle-stimulating hormone on the reproductive performance of female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

Avian egg size: Variation within species and inflexibility within individuals

Genetic architecture: Dissecting the genetic basis of phenotypic variation

Intraspecific variation in reproductive physiology and egg quality in the European Starling Sturnus vulgaris

Interindividual variation in yolk mass and the rate of growth of ovarian follicles in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Follicular development and plasma yolk precursor dynamics through the laying cycle in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Seasonal decline in clutch size in European starlings: A novel randomization test to distinguish between the timing and quality hypotheses

Producing extra eggs does not deplete macronutrient reserves in European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris

Trade-offs between egg size and number in waterfowl: An interspecific test of the van Noordwijk and de Jong model

Organ mass dynamics in relation to yolk precursor production and egg formation in European starlings Sturnus vulgaris

Controlling for body mass effects: Is part-whole correlation important?

Effects of exogenous 17-estradiol on the reproductive physiology and reproductive performance of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Enhanced immune function does not depress reproductive output

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