Welcome to the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. We are a Top Ten Medical School in primary care, pediatrics, family medicine and rural medicine, and offer physical therapy and physician assistant programs.

Welcome to the Winn Lab located at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus. We are in the Division of Basic Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The goal of this lab is to understand human placental development; ultimately to improve the health of mothers and infants.

We study the remarkable process of human placental development. Interestingly, while the placenta is one of the defining characteristics of mammals, the architecture and development of the mamalian placenta is not highly conserved. The human placenta is one of the most invasive placentas and results in the formation of an organ which comprises cells both from the fetus and the mother. How this chimeric organ forms and is not rejected is truly remarkable. The fetal cells dramatically remodel the maternal vasculature to bring large volumes of maternal blood to the placenta. The mechanisms that regulate both interstitial and endovascular invasion are not well understood.

Learn more about our studies of the human placental development process.

Mission Statement

• To inspire and train future generations of scientists in reproductive biology.
• To understand basic placental biology as it relates to diseases of pregnancy.
• To bridge clinical and basic science investigation with the ultimate goal of improving the health of women and infants.