Jan 28, 2026 · 42 min · 13 segments
Dr. Rupsa Boelig, a 2025 March of Dimes Discovery Research Grant winner and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Philadelphia’s Thomas…
Rupsa BoeligGuestOlesya PlekheHostLet's talk briefly about one of the most interesting questions related to this work.
And our understanding is that the early development of the placenta and the blood vessels of the placenta are critical to the health of a growing pregnancy.
And if those blood vessels start off not healthy, not well developed, then the placenta has increasing difficulty supporting a healthy pregnancy as it continues to grow.
And this stress on the placenta leads to complications like preeclampsia or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, even spontaneous preterm labor.
And so that's sort of central to why aspirin has been studied and on our hypothesis for why we think that it actually works to help prevent these complications that it's preventing these tiny clots that are in the placenta that may be preventing that healthy development of the placental blood vessels.
okay so um that that aspirin is prevent is is contributing to the healthy development of the blood vessels that's what you said yeah
hypothesis yeah so you said it has been studied for a long time it's not new and yet we're still using the word hypothesis what is the like what what's the cog in the wheel here of the research why don't we why don't we why don't we know yet or why are we not more confident to say this is how aspirin helps the placenta be a more kind of healthy organ in the early pregnancy?
The first and the biggest reason is that despite the long history of knowing, you know, that preeclampsia and preterm birth are these major complications in pregnancy, We're still early in our understanding of the exact disease processes that are leading to these outcomes.
There's multiple interrelated systems from early in pregnancy that appear to all contribute to the ultimate development of preeclampsia or preterm birth later in pregnancy.
And so when you don't know exactly why a disease is happening, that becomes a little bit trickier to prevent or treat that condition.
The second limitation that we've had is that aspirin has multiple effects, actually.
So one of the main things that we often think about aspirin is that it's a type of blood thinner.
Platelets are these tiny little things in your blood that clot, and that's what they're supposed to do.
Let's talk briefly about one of the most interesting questions related to this work.
And our understanding is that the early development of the placenta and the blood vessels of the placenta are critical to the health of a growing pregnancy.
And if those blood vessels start off not healthy, not well developed, then the placenta has increasing difficulty supporting a healthy pregnancy as it continues to grow.
And this stress on the placenta leads to complications like preeclampsia or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, even spontaneous preterm labor.
And so that's sort of central to why aspirin has been studied and on our hypothesis for why we think that it actually works to help prevent these complications that it's preventing these tiny clots that are in the placenta that may be preventing that healthy development of the placental blood vessels.
okay so um that that aspirin is prevent is is contributing to the healthy development of the blood vessels that's what you said yeah
hypothesis yeah so you said it has been studied for a long time it's not new and yet we're still using the word hypothesis what is the like what what's the cog in the wheel here of the research why don't we why don't we why don't we know yet or why are we not more confident to say this is how aspirin helps the placenta be a more kind of healthy organ in the early pregnancy?
The first and the biggest reason is that despite the long history of knowing, you know, that preeclampsia and preterm birth are these major complications in pregnancy, We're still early in our understanding of the exact disease processes that are leading to these outcomes.
There's multiple interrelated systems from early in pregnancy that appear to all contribute to the ultimate development of preeclampsia or preterm birth later in pregnancy.
And so when you don't know exactly why a disease is happening, that becomes a little bit trickier to prevent or treat that condition.
The second limitation that we've had is that aspirin has multiple effects, actually.
So one of the main things that we often think about aspirin is that it's a type of blood thinner.
Platelets are these tiny little things in your blood that clot, and that's what they're supposed to do.
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