Irish research group wins award for work on preventing deaths of mothers and babies

Preventing the unnecessary deaths of mothers and their newborns is the goal of a research centre based at University College Cork. This group has just received a major international award for its work from the American Heart Association.

Infant, the Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translation Research, is trying to find a way to screen for pregnant women at risk of developing life-threatening conditions such as pre-eclampsia.

Knowing early on that a woman is at risk means they can get the most suitable treatment possible, says Prof Louise Kenny of Infant, who leads the work there. “It is about saving the lives of mothers and their babies. That is why we get up every morning; that is why this is so important,” she says.

The goal is to find “biomarkers” for the condition that can give early warning of trouble.

The initial research programme was called Scope and it identified 75 possible biomarkers that must now be explored.

The international award is for the work accomplished in Scope and represents a first for Irish researchers. The scientific study has been announced as top paper for 2014 in the category of clinical science in Hypertension, the journal of the American Heart Association.

Science Foundation Ireland funds the Infant centre.