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Blood test could detect preeclampsia
Posted 10 November 2010
Prince Henry's Institute announced today that it has received a USD$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Dr Guiying Nie titled "Novel and very early detection of preeclampsia".
Dr Guiying Nie, Prince Henry's Institute, Australia proposes to develop a blood test which could detect pregnancies at high risk of the common condition preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy disorder affecting up to 10% of pregnancies worldwide. It is a common cause of maternal death in pregnancy and no reliable test is available to diagnose the condition early.
The novel approach would develop a test to measure levels of a placental protein in the mothers's blood. The team recently published new findings which show that, in high risk pregnancies, protein levels can be double normal levels.
They were able to show this difference just 13 weeks into pregnancy. They believe their findings can now be translated into a blood simple test which has the potential to save the lives of mothers and babies globally.
Dr Guiying Nie's project is one of 65 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fifth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 16 countries on 5 continents.
To receive funding, Dr Guiying Nie showed in a two-page application how her idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health. The initiative is highly competitive, receiving more than 2,400 proposals in this round.
"These are bold ideas from innovative thinkers, which is exactly what we need in global health research right now, " said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation's Global Health Program. "I'm excited to see some of these daring projects develop into life-saving breakthroughs for those who need them the most."
In May 2010 Dr Nie was awarded another USD$100,000 Gates Foundation grant for a project titled "Women-controlled contraception that also prevents HIV."
About Grand Challenges Explorations
Grand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health. The program uses an agile, streamlined grant process - applications are limited to two pages, and preliminary data are not required. Proposals are reviewed and selected by a committee of foundation staff and external experts, and grant decisions are made within approximately three months of the close of the funding round.
About Prince Henry's Institute
Prince Henrys Institute (PHI) is an independent not-for-profit medical research institute based at Monash Medical Centre Clayton in Victoria, Australia. The Institute has over 160 staff and students and our vision is to improve quality of life through the investigation of hormones in the fields of reproductive health, cancer, diabetes, obesity, bone health and` cardiovascular disease. Research at PHI includes fundamental laboratory research understanding human biology, translational studies focussed upon developing better diagnostics and new treatments and clinical programs to improve patient care.