Our combined clinical and scientific research strategy focuses on understanding in the aetiology and mechanisms and examining new approaches for prediction, prevention and treatment of preterm labour and birth and dysfunctional labour at term.
Working closely with King’s Health Partners and The Centre of Translational Medicine our aim is to deliver new diagnostic tools, novel therapies and clinical management guidelines to improve overall outcomes for pregnant women and their children and promote health throughout the life course.
Our strengths include large multidisciplinary research teams and access to two of the largest and most socially and ethnically varied and complex populations of pregnant women in the UK.
We work with this population to undertake a range of clinical and science-based research; spanning the molecular, cellular, physiological, genetic, immunological, and microbiome/ metabolome research areas. We have an excellent track record of developing first trimester screening tools, implementing clinical trials in pregnancy and proven experience in integrating science research goals with clinical need.
We are leading in using MRI to identify in utero markers of placental function and fetal development in relation to future pregnancy complications and poor birth outcomes.
Our work spans into the Data Science and pregnancy-child cohort studies theme, where we lead pregnancy-child cohorts and the UK Preterm Birth Clinic Database, a repository for anonymised clinical information and nested clinical trials focusing on women at high risk of preterm birth.
Our research approach is further enhanced by cross-linking with the researchers in the ‘Maternal and Child Health Systems Research’ theme
We are keen to engage with researchers around the world interested in collaboration and access to our preterm birth data and biobank resources.