Fetal and Maternal Medicine
The effect of a recently developed caspase-2 inhibitor (TRP601) on brain injury (pale delineated area) after ischemia induced in the immature brain at the level of the anterior commissure and dorsal hippocampus (from Jacotot et al. 2010) - click for larger version
The research at Fetal and Maternal Medicine is mainly focused on the fetal/neonatal brain and the fetal as well as the maternal complications of cholestatic disease during pregnancy.
Dr. Sailesh Kumar (Senior lecturer in Obstetrics/Fetal Medicine) leads a project investigating hemodynamic changes in fetal growth restriction as well as changes in fetal brain morphology and metabolism in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction utlilzing magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.
Dr Helena Gardiner (Reader in Perinatal Cardiology) is specialised in congenital heart disease, fetal vascular programming as a consequence of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome and its therapy and the consequences for child health and brain development in the short- and longterm.
Dr Catherine Williamson (Professor in Obstetric medicine) investigates the molecular aetiology of cholestatic disorders of pregnancy including the interaction between the fetal and maternal genome and the role of nuclear receptor signalling.
Dr Henrik Hagberg (Professor in Obstetrics) leads an experimental group dedicated at understanding the mechanisms of brain injury with the ultimate aim to develop brain protective treatment for fetuses and newborns born preterm or suffering from birth asphyxia. The clinical research is mainly performed at the Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital and the laboratories are localised at the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology.
Figure 2 . Middle cerebral artery arising from the circle of Willis and its Doppler waveform
Figure 3a MRI in the Coronal Sagittal and Transverse Brains Showing the Correct Location of a 20x20x20mm3 Voxel used for sampling of magnetic resonance spectroscopy spectra in Figure 3b (below).
Figure 3b Spectra from a 24+6 Week Appropriately Grown Fetus, Illustrating Resonances for Myo-inositol (3.5ppm), Choline (3.2 ppm), Creatine (3.0ppm), N-acetylaspartate (2.0ppm) and Lactate (the bifid inverted peak at 1.3ppm) at an Echo Time of 136ms.
