Trees and transfers of gifts: placental transformations and contradictions in a UK birth cohort study

Since 1991, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a birth cohort based in Bristol, UK, has collected thousands of placentas among other biological samples from multiple generations of participants. The metaphor of the tree iterated in the placenta's vascular structure and foetal surface provides a starting point for theorising gendered complexities of biomedical research participation. Drawing on some of the history of ALSPAC and UK tissue donation, framings of the placenta within and outside of DOHaD (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease) research, and narratives of placenta-donating participants, the article discusses multiple meanings of the placenta and the forms it takes. In particular, ALSPAC participants' experiences highlight placental transformations, including in its transfers, and the contradictory logics of reproducing birth cohort research through the 'gift' of the placenta from individual to institution. Engaging with interlocutor narratives via such 'placental thinking' sheds light on these exchanges, transformations, and contradictions. As a lens, placental thinking can critically engage with data collection and research practices for a participant-centred approach to the medicalised body and its ever-transforming parts.