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| 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.”
