Gordon Douglas, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor Emeritus
4430 Tupper Hall
Davis Campus
530-752-7101
gcdouglas@ucdavis.edu

Our overall objective is to understand how the formation of differentiated trophoblast phenotypes is orchestrated in trophoblast progenitor cells.

Successful pregnancy outcome in human and non-human primates is largely dependent on the activity of different kinds of placental trophoblast cells, all of which are derived from the trophectoderm layer of the blastocyst. Invasive (extravillous) trophoblasts migrate into uterine tissue and penetrate superficial uterine blood vessel endothelium. Non-invasive (villous) cytotrophoblasts fuse and form syncytiotrophoblast which forms the outer layer of the villous placenta. Disruption of trophoblast differentiation and trophoblast invasion are implicated as a cause of preeclampsia and other disorders of pregnancy. We have found that the mucin, MUC1, is expressed by trophoblasts and are currently investigating its role in regulating trophoblast invasion.

Kumar P, Thirkill TL, Ji J, Monte LH, Douglas GC. “Differential Effects of Sodium Butyrate and Lithium Chloride on Rhesus Monkey Trophoblast Differentiation”. PLoS One. 2015 Aug 12;10(8):e0135089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135089

Schroeder DI, Jayashankar K, Douglas KC, Thirkill TL, York D, Dickinson PJ, Williams LE, Samollow PB, Ross PJ, Bannasch DL, Douglas GC, LaSalle JM. “Early Developmental and Evolutionary Origins of Gene Body DNA Methylation Patterns in Mammalian Placentas”. PLoS Genet. 2015 Aug 4;11(8):e1005442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005442

Douglas GC, Thirkill TL, Kumar P, Loi M, Hilborn ED. “Effect of microcystin-LR on human placental villous trophoblast differentiation in vitro”. Environ Toxicol. 2014 Oct 27. doi: 10.1002/tox.22056

Kumar P, Ji J, Thirkill TL, Douglas GC. “MUC1 Is Expressed by Human Skin Fibroblasts and Plays a Role in Cell Adhesion and Migration”. Biores Open Access. 2014 Apr 1;3(2):45-52.

Kumar P, Lindberg L, Thirkill TL, Ji JW, Martsching L and Douglas GC. “The MUC1 extracellular domain subunit is found in nuclear speckles and associates with spliceosomes”. PLoS One.; 7(8):e42712.

Morgan JT, Pfeiffer ER, Thirkill TL, Kumar P, Peng G, Fridolfsson HN, Douglas GC, Starr DA and Barakat AI. “Nesprin-3 regulates endothelial cell morphology, perinuclear cytoskeletal architecture, and flow-induced polarization”. Mol Biol Cell.; 22(22):4324-34.

Douglas GC, VandeVoort CA, Kumar P, Chang TC and Golos TG. “Trophoblast stem cells: models for investigating trophectoderm differentiation and placental development”. Endocr Rev.;30(3):228-40.

  • National Institutes of Health
  • UC Davis Children’s Miracle Network