Sandra Haider: From stemness to differentiation: Model systems to Study Placental cell fate

How can cutting-edge technologies help us understand human development where experimentation is most limited?

In this talk, Prof. Sandra Haider, from the Medical University of Vienna, will highlight how novel methods—from organoids to spatial genomics—are reshaping our ability to study human biology directly, with implications for developmental biology, regenerative medicine, and systems biology.

Her research is widely recognized for pioneering the use of human stem-cell–derived organoids to model development and disease. She will show how she combined her knowledge on organoid and human tissue with single-cell and spatial multiomic methods to map the human placenta at unprecedented resolution. Drawing on her recent Nature Medicine study, she will show how integrating transcriptomics, chromatin accessibility, and spatial context with an interdisciplinary team reveals how distinct cell states emerge, interact, and organize during early development. By bridging her advanced experimental models with computational approaches, her work provides a framework for studying complex human tissues in health and pathology.

The talk will be followed by 2 short talks from PhD candidates in the field (12:00-12:30):

Anna-Maria Prandstetter: "Cross-talk between extravillous trophoblasts and decidual glands in early human pregnancy"
Sunhild Hartmann: " Activin A and BMP signaling in early placental development and preeclampsia"
Host: Olivia Nonn, MD, PhD (AG Müller/Dechend)

Join us at BIMSB in seminar room 2.04 or online via TEAMS.