skip to content

Wellcome Trust - Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research

(Closed)
 
None

Maternal and Child Health

African Mums250x250.jpgThere is a broad spectrum of Maternal and Child Health research at The University of Cambridge, in many departments including the Biomedical Campus, Pathology, Engineering and the Humanities. This website offers a snapshot of current research with particular emphasis on collaborative research most likely to have an impact in the support of maternal and child health  for low and middle income Countries, notably the Centre’s research partnership with Mulago Hospital in Uganda, led by Professor Ashley Moffett.

See the Maternal and Neonatal Health Research Newsletter

The Centre for Trophoblast Research is a leading Centre of scientific study of the placenta and maternal-fetal interactions during pregnancy.

Addenbrooke's Abroad is a charitable trust based at the hospital established in recognition that engaging University staff and clinicians with global health has benefits for patients and health care workers both overseas and in the UK.

Research at the Placental Interface

Courtesy Ashley MoffettNew insights into pregnancy are resulting from research on the interaction between mother and fetus at the placental interface.

Professor Ashley Moffett’s research group in the Department of Pathology studies how the immune system acts during pregnancy to establish and maintain a balance between the different needs of the mother and her baby as it develops. If this is defective, major problems of pregnancy arise, including recurrent miscarriage, low birth weight, stillbirth and pre-eclampsia.

As many as 3–10% of births worldwide are affected by pre-eclampsia, a complication that is particularly common in first pregnancies. Pre-eclampsia develops suddenly towards the end of pregnancy and progresses rapidly, causing death of the mother and her baby unless there is delivery by emergency Caesarean section. The condition arises when the placenta (which is derived from the fetus) fails to invade deeply into the uterus, so that the proper connections with the uterine arteries that provide essential oxygen and nutrients to the fetus are not established. A fine balance exists in this ‘no-man’s-land’ – too little invasion means the fetus will be starved, too much invasion is detrimental to the mother.

Placental trophoblast cells are at the interface between the placenta and uterus; as they migrate through the uterine wall they come into contact with cells of the maternal immune system. The maternal cells that appear to be especially important in regulating the degree of invasion are uterine natural killer (uNK) cells. Work in Professor Moffett’s lab has been looking at what determines which way the balance tips and how uNK cells might both assist and hinder placentation.

Read More

Associated MCH Research

Developmental Origin of Disease

Staphylococcus Aurus Infection Associated with Childbirth

Nutrition and Susceptibility to Pediatric Enteric Viral Disease

View

Understanding the Placenta

None

UoC_WT-CCGHR_RGB_hi.jpg

The Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research is funded by the Wellcome Trust. In close collaboration with The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, it supports researchers working in public health and tropical medicine to develop their careers, and foster interchange between institutions in the UK and those based in low- and middle-income countries.

Mini transparent wtccghr logo

 

The Centre supports collaborative partnerships and scientific training activities in basic biomedical and health-related research. This is achieved through coordinated cross-faculty research across departments and research institutes in Cambridge including The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Follow us on Twitter