Vincent Lynch, assistant professor
Department of Biological Sciences
A new study illuminates how a gene called HAND2 may have a hand in the timing of human labor.
“We don’t know why humans go into labor. It’s a basic aspect of human biology that we just don’t know the answer to, and it’s kind of embarrassing that we don’t,” says senior author and UB evolutionary biologist Vincent Lynch. “What happens in many other animals is that as gestation goes on, the level of progesterone keeps going up, and then a few hours before birth, progesterone levels drop to pre-pregnancy levels. Progesterone inhibits contractions, so once you lose it, the uterus starts contracting and the baby is born.
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University at Buffalo
A study explores the role of HAND2 in human and mammalian pregnancy
Vincent Lynch, assistant professor of biological sciences
University at Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. A new study illuminates how a gene called HAND2 may have a hand in the timing of human labor.
“We don’t know why humans go into labor. It’s a basic aspect of human biology that we just don’t know the answer to, and it’s kind of embarrassing that we don’t,” says senior author Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo. “What happens in many other animals is that as gestation goes on, the level of progesterone keeps going up, and then a few hours before birth, progesterone levels drop to pre-pregnancy levels. Progesterone inhibits contractions, so once you lose it, the uterus starts contracting and the baby is born.