Marie (@randommarie.bsky.social)

Single-cell spatiotemporal dissection of the human maternal–fetal interface | Nature The human maternal–fetal interface is characterized by mosaic intermingling of maternal and fetal cells1. Yet the underlying cellular, molecular and spatial programmes remain incompletely defined. Here we generate a comprehensive atlas of the human maternal–fetal interface across normal pregnancies from early gestation to term by integrating large-scale paired single-nucleus transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling with submicrometre-resolution spatial transcriptomics and CODEX multiplex protein imaging2, substantially boosting the spatiotemporal resolution of prior research3. This framework delineates common and transient cell types, states and spatial niches across the fetal and maternal compartments, reconstructs transcriptional programmes that guide cytotrophoblast and decidual stromal cell differentiation, and resolves recurrent architecture structural units that build this interface. We identify previously unrecognized arterial endothelial state transitions https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10316-x