isbscience.org/research/pregnancy-bench-bedside/A Molecular and Deep Phenotyping Narrative of Pregnancy
Researchers within the Hood-Price Lab are designing a comprehensive clinical study to tease out the intricacies of pregnancy as it progresses from conception to postpartum.
In collaboration with Magee-Womens Health, ISB will collect an exhaustive set of maternal and fetal health parameters — digital health, physiological, behavioral/contextual, molecular, clinical, and medical imaging measures — from multiple modalities and over the course of gestation.
By chronologically mapping perigestational changes at the individual level, researchers intend to construct a thorough blueprint of pregnancy across its various stages. The goal is to capitalize on the longitudinal “big data” generated to identify parameters that can accurately inform the state of pregnancy health, using predictive analytics to extract those associated with favorable and unfavorable outcomes.
A Wellness Focus in Pregnancy
Pregnancy is well suited for prototyping scientific wellness. Pregnant women are typically excluded from clinical drug trials due to ethical and health concerns. This has hampered clinicians’ ability to make therapeutic decisions that are well informed and suited for a cohort of pregnant women.
It is therefore imperative that we explore alternative methods for streamlined treatment of obstetric complications. Taking a proactive approach, we are instead focusing on detecting the transition from “wellness” to “illness” within a pregnancy trajectory as to enable early and non-pharmacological interception and prevention.
Key Personnel: Amal Katrib (ISB); Alison Paquette (ISB); Nathan Price (ISB); Lee Hood (ISB); Yoel Sadovsky (Magee-Womens); and Oren Barak (Magee-Womens).
