New international partnership leads to collaborative translational research in pregnancy health

Prof Euan Wallace

Improved pregnancy health is the aim of an international translational research collaboration at The Ritchie Centre.

The Ritchie Centre has received a grant for the development of a Pregnancy Research Synergy between Monash and Manchester Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre (MFHRC).   This follows the 2014 launch of the joint Monash Partners and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre Seed funding round.

The Ritchie Centre and MFHRC will explore their current research programmes overlap to determine potential for collaborative translational research with the goal of improving pregnancy health for mothers in Victoria, Greater Manchester and beyond.

Professor Euan Wallace, Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Director of The Ritchie Centre said, “We are very excited about this two-way collaboration, with our complimentary expertise we can accelerate clinical application of discovery science.”

The first synergy project will involve both parties exploring a clinical trial into preeclampsia. This collaborative study is an extension of the pre-existing research into preeclampsia but looking for new treatments and fast tracking research insights.

 “Once the pilot study is complete we will have developed a streamlined pathway that will allow translational animal studies in pregnancy disease to be carried out jointly at both sites.”

The funding will enable both groups to come together for a series of face-to-face meetings, with the first to take place later this year in Brisbane.

“Both The Ritchie Centre and MFHRC have a similar structure, with a dynamic research group integrated into a major hospital,” added Professor Wallace. 

“By working together in close collaboration we can expand the number of our experimental trials and accelerate their translation to the patients beside, helping us to achieve a reduction in preventable stillbirth.”