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Congratulations to Irene Ong, PhD, of the UW Ob-Gyn Division
of Reproductive Sciences, Aleks Stanic, MD PhD, of Reproductive Sciences and
the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and Chanel Tyler,
MD, of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine! This multi-talented,
multi-disciplinary research team received a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to support their
research into the role of innate lymphoid cells in preterm labor.
From the team’s research abstract:
“Preterm birth, as a consequence of preterm labor is a
leading cause of maternal/fetal morbidity and mortality in the US and
worldwide. At its root, preterm labor is thought to be a result of inappropriately
inflammatory immune response in normal conditions or when responding to a
microbial challenge. Despite this appreciation, exact immune cell responsible
has remained elusive. Our preliminary data demonstrate that a dominant immune
cell population (>70% of immune cells) at the maternal-fetal interface
(decidual natural killer/innate lymphoid cells, henceforth dILCs) undergoes transcriptional programming in pregnancy resulting
in less inflammatory response to stimuli. In this, highly innovative proposal,
we aim to use cutting edge, single-cell technologies to unravel the
anti-inflammatory dILC programming and to determine if failure of this process
leads to preterm labor. Furthermore, the advanced single-cell sequencing, flow
cytometry and computational/machine learning approaches will test the
possibility that at least a subset of dILCs traffics through maternal blood,
allowing for early detection of pregnancies at highest risk. Taken together,
these studies will markedly advance the scientific and clinical understanding
of normal pregnancy and preterm birth and open new targets for drug repurposing
or development.”
The Preterm
Birth Initiative was created to increase the understanding of the
biological mechanisms underlying parturition and spontaneous preterm birth
and will provide up to $500,000 over a four-year period ($125,000
per year).
The initiative is designed to stimulate both
creative individual scientists and multi-investigator teams to
approach the problem of preterm birth using creative basic
and translation science methods. The formation of new connections between
reproductive scientists and investigators who are involved in other
areas will give preterm birth research a fresh and unique look,
and stimulate a new workforce to tackle this challenge.
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