For more than 40 years, his research program has focused on improving both fertility (the ability to conceive and to establish a pregnancy) and pregnancy outcomes (i.e., postnatal survival and long-term health of offspring) in livestock. These ‘problems of pregnancy’ have major scientific, socioeconomic, and health implications for humans as well.
Along with numerous collaborators throughout the world, Dr. Reynolds helped establish that placental (uterine and umbilical) blood flows are key to normal placental function (i.e., transport capacity) throughout gestation. Subsequently, they showed that the placenta produces angiogenic factors, which drive its dramatic vascular development and were among the first to develop methods to evaluate the rate of cell turnover (cell proliferation and apoptosis) of tissues, including the placenta, in vivo. More recently, Dr. Reynolds and co-workers have shown that maternal stressors such as malnutrition, environmental factors, age, and assisted reproductive technologies, have profound effects on placental development very early in pregnancy, resulting in altered placental function and subsequently reduced fetal growth and development. They also were among the first to recognize and investigate the potential impact of ‘developmental programming’ in livestock. Currently, Dr. Reynolds and colleagues are investigating therapeutic and management strategies to improve fertility and pregnancy outcomes, and the role of the fetal and maternal steroid metabolomes in the processes of fetal organ maturation, birth, and postnatal survival.