成人大片

A 成人大片-led research project will deliver important new knowledge in the first weeks of human development to help reduce infertility and pregnancy complications.

This collaborative project 鈥� funded by a $5 million grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council鈥檚 Synergy Grant program - will study interactions between cells of the early placenta and the mother鈥檚 uterus.

It builds on the different but complementary knowledge and expertise of the chief investigators from the 成人大片, Flinders University, University of Western Australia (UWA), RMIT University and The University of Queensland (UQ) with collaborators from UZ Brussel, Monash University and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

Professor Jose Polo, Director of the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics at the 成人大片, is the lead chief investigator (CI) on the project.

鈥淲e will focus on how the different placental cell types develop from embryo implantation to the first few weeks of development that occur before a woman is aware she is pregnant,鈥� said Professor Polo, who is also a Group Leader at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI).

鈥淲e will also show how placenta cells are kept healthy during the entire pregnancy.

鈥淲e will reflect back to the earliest days of placental development and identify important developmental check points that, when they go wrong, lead to common pregnancy complications. Together, our research program will benefit the 15 per cent of reproductive-age couples who face infertility, and the 30 per cent of the 300,000 pregnancies each year in Australia affected by a major placenta-associated pregnancy complication.鈥�

鈥淭his project has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the causes of pregnancy complications."Professor Benjamin Kile, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the 成人大片

Professor Claire Roberts 鈥� a fellow CI on the project - leads the Pregnancy Health and Beyond Laboratory at Flinders University, and has led research on large human pregnancy cohorts in Adelaide since 2005.

鈥淲e know that pregnancy complications have their origins in the first days and weeks of pregnancy, but we had to wait until the 2020s to have the cellular and molecular toolkit to dive deep into this issue,鈥� Professor Roberts said.

鈥淧utting technological advances together with our team鈥檚 deep knowledge in human genetics, epigenetics, implantation and placental development will herald a new age in human pregnancy research.鈥�

Professor Benjamin Kile, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the 成人大片, said the project was an example of the ground-breaking work happening at the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics.

鈥淭his project has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the causes of pregnancy complications,鈥� Professor Kile said.

鈥淚t is exactly the reason why the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics was created 鈥� research and researchers at the absolute scientific edge, finding solutions to important problems.鈥�

Other CI鈥檚 on the project are Professor Ryan Lister (UWA), Professor Guiying Nie (RMIT), Professor Geoffrey Faulkner (UQ), and Associate Professor Luciano Martelotto (成人大片).

The five-year project is titled, 鈥楿sing complex models of human trophoblast to study placental biology and disease鈥�.