Positions

InTEC is a consortium between multiple universities to advance our understanding of how placental transporters impact the disposition of endobiotics, xenobiotics, and overall pregnancy health. Funded by NICHD, InTEC utilizes novel technologies to profile the SLC and ABC transporter proteome, predict and validate novel substrates and regulators of placental transport, and simulate maternal-fetal disposition using a vascularized placenta-on-a-chip.

From time to time, each site of InTEC is recruiting students and trainees to participate in transporter science.

• Rutgers University: Trainees perform transport assays using an array of in vitro cellular models as well as work with unique datasets from a US-based birth cohort to identify regulators of the placental transporter proteome. For more information, email Dr. Lauren Aleksunes at aleksunes@eohsi.rutgers.edu.
• University of Pennsylvania: Trainees develop bioengineering technologies for in vitro modeling and in-depth analysis of placental transport in human pregnancy. They use a novel vascularized placenta-on-a-chip model to emulate and investigate transport of nutrients, dietary supplements, drugs, and environmental toxicants across the maternal-fetal interface in the human placenta. For more information, email Dr. Dan Huh at huhd@seas.upenn.edu.
• Tulane University: Trainees advance machine learning models that evaluate novel substrate and inhibitor interactions with SLC and ABC transporters in the placenta. Students and postdocs capitalize on big data sets curated across multiple sources to ensure rich data for model development and validation. For more information, email Dr. Hao Zhu at hzhu10@tulane.edu.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Trainees focus on advancing novel transporter proteomics that profile SLC and ABC proteins in healthy and diseased placentas as well as extracellular vesicles across trimesters. For more information, email Dr. Jacqueline Tiley at jackiebe@email.unc.edu.