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| Dr Padma Murthi |
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health
(SCS) researcher Dr Padma Murthi has been awarded a highly competitive Ferring
Innovation Grant for her research investigating therapeutics to treat placental
function in preeclampsia.
The Ferring Pharmaceuticals grant worth
US$96,000 will enable Dr Murthi to investigate the role of novel peptides as an
effective target to improve placental function.
Often seen in first-time pregnancies and in
women over forty, preeclampia (PE) affects 5% to 10% of all pregnancies
globally.
“PE is caused by a functionally insufficient
placenta, and severe PE is associated with a placenta that doesn’t develop
properly, preventing the developing fetus from receiving enough oxygen, blood
and nutrients,” said Dr Murthi, senior research fellow in the Department of
Medicine.
“There are no therapies to improve placental
function and fetal growth in utero, and advances in the prevention of PE have
been hampered by our inadequate understanding of the critical regulators of placental
function largely due to the lack of appropriate model systems.”
Led by Dr Murthi, the Monash research group is
the first in the world to discover a placental growth control receptor (known
as FPR2) is involved in improving placental blood flow to the developing fetus.
Dr Murthi said her group has developed
innovative tools, including appropriate in vitro, ex-vivo and in-vivo
model systems to demonstrate the usefulness of FPR2 as a therapeutic
target to improve placental vascular functions in preeclampsia.
“FPR2 has significant therapeutic
implications given that clinical trials for drugs targeting FPR2 in
inflammatory diseases have already been tested for safety and tolerability in humans,”
said Dr Murthi.
“The outcomes of this study have the
potential to improve placental growth and function in preeclampsia, one of the
major clinical disorders of contemporary perinatal medicine.”
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