Placenta obsessed scientist working to better understand and predict why some babies are born dangerously small, teacher, mentor, mum, outdoor explorer. She/herhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3mfq2xjbns22vPleased some of our earlier work imaging the Boyd Collection at @loke-ctr.bsky.social could be integrated into this lovely paper by @vethannaphd.bsky.social et al. looking to how we can use new machine learning tools to get even more value from this kind of legacy data. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2026.02.013 👏26 Feb 2026 01:42 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfq2xjbns22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3m6giqykjwk2iWhen you didn’t get time for breakfast, but this appears at the end of your morning meeting 😍 Thanks team ABI, happy to keep drawing out these celebrations!25 Nov 2025 04:26 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6giqykjwk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lwpplbwjbc2yA shout out to various members of my team who have been spending way too much time recently in dark basements imaging bits of placenta with the new lightsheet microscope (with much troubleshooting) and processing the resulting datasets… but the results when it works! 🤩 @anzpra1.bsky.social19 Aug 2025 01:00 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwpplbwjbc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lwdzohzu4s24New record - got a manuscript outcome notification today for a paper I submitted in November 2023 🤯 TWENTY-ONE MONTHS to reach a first decision of minor revisions. The system is broken. 😒 #atleastitwasntrejected14 Aug 2025 09:29 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwdzohzu4s24https://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lvc4nbbwgk24Feels like it’s been a while between papers.. but pleased to say our latest is now out! Here we used the side-population technique to isolate trophoblast stem cells from term placentas, showing that in FGR they grow slower, die more easily, and have impaired differentiation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yexcr.2025.114684 https://kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.yexcr.2025.114684/1/010201986156bbfd-329628e3-cccf-4f4b-95c1-77b78e0aee28-000000/2qxka6NKXhNp7YgImOLWF2YjREU=43731 Jul 2025 21:51 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvc4nbbwgk24https://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lurfyv7cys2lFun day at the Rosehill College Hauora expo sharing our love of all things placenta, and our work aimed at better interpreting ultrasound in pregnancy to improve detection of at risk babies. New hologram was a hit (looks better irl), and tons of kids through 😃 #teamplacenta #pregnancymodellinggroup25 Jul 2025 06:24 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lurfyv7cys2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lp76dd5nyc26Congrats to Dr Cherry Sun on officially joining the floppy hat club yesterday! 🥂🌟 Cherry’s thesis showed functional impairments in trophoblast stem cells from FGR placentae - they grow slower, die easier, & differentiate differently - which may explain placental changes seen in this disorder.15 May 2025 09:13 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lp76dd5nyc26https://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lokevopf2c2pSuper grateful for this generous philanthropic support of our work to develop sex-specific virtual placenta models, which we hope to use to develop more personalised tools to aid early identification of babies at risk of being born dangerously small. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025/04/16/alumnus-bolsters-research-projects.html07 May 2025 02:44 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lokevopf2c2phttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3llhqnunf4s2fMy pleasure to talk about our work on data-driven models of the feto-placental circulation at #SRI2025 in Charlotte today. Thank you to the audience for so much wonderful interaction after! 🙏28 Mar 2025 21:21 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3llhqnunf4s2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lhotj2fluk2rSaw the below chart, realised that individual universities in the US can get about 5x more $ from the NIH alone than our entire country has available to apply for from its two biggest funders (HRC and Marsden, together ~$200 million NZD). Cool cool. [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Feb 2025 19:20 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhotj2fluk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lhh5so7yhs2z👏👏👏 what BMJ said 👏👏👏 [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 Feb 2025 18:03 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhh5so7yhs2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lgwhsqjuqk24Hey placenta/pregnancy people - happy to share that we've now set #ANZPRA up over here! 🥳 [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Jan 2025 02:47 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgwhsqjuqk24https://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3leskuvdocs2gBeautiful review on the placental vasculature and is known of its altered function in pre-eclampsia by Hanna Allerkamp and colleagues at MedUniGraz👏 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cphy.c23002003 Jan 2025 02:41 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3leskuvdocs2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lcwpvie4y22cCongratulations to Anandita Umapathy on her PhD graduation today! Great to have her back in NZ to celebrate together 🥳 🥂#sillyhatday @aucklanduni.bsky.social10 Dec 2024 07:31 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcwpvie4y22chttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lcmb63h5ck22Feels like it's been a minute.. but happy to announce the latest #JamesLab paper is now out! 🥳 Here we take a dive into trophoblast organoid models to think about the role of trophoblast stem cells in organoid formation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2024.12.003 #teamplacenta #organoids06 Dec 2024 03:40 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcmb63h5ck22https://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lcirxml5w22m🔥🔥👇👇 [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Dec 2024 18:30 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcirxml5w22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lbqhrezpys2pA bit slow on this, but now there is a media piece.. stoked that Alys & I got a Marsden grant recently to further explore the biomechanical relationship between the placenta & heart in utero, and how this may impact fetal heart dysfunction in very small babies. 🥳🫀 https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2024/11/22/zooming-into-the-womb.html25 Nov 2024 02:24 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbqhrezpys2phttps://bsky.app/profile/drjojames.bsky.social/post/3lbm4etz3yk2tJust back from a great couple of days at Tūrangawaewae marae immersing ourselves in Te Ao Maori, connecting with local communities, and having such a fun mass work sleepover. So many thanks to the #IUE team and the phenomenal maanakitanga of Tainui. Mauri ora! #teamplacenta23 Nov 2024 08:49 +0000at://did:plc:m5iffsog5xg2r3t7fhssproo/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbm4etz3yk2t