WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., FEB. 6, 2007 – In its ongoing effort to predict and prevent premature birth, the March of Dimes announced support for the innovative research of eight scientists with combined grant awards of $3 million.
“These grants demonstrate the increasing investment of the March of Dimes in research to discover etiology of preterm labor,” said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. “The number of premature births has risen to more than 500,000 babies each year. New research is critical if we are to end this epidemic.”
The third annual Prematurity Research Initiative (PRI) grants were awarded to eight U.S. based scientists, two from Illinois, one each from Colorado, Kentucky, Iowa, Nevada, Vermont, and Washington state. The grants are awarded to the scientists for a three year period.
Five of the research projects focus on the role a woman’s immune and inflammatory responses to infections may play in triggering labor. By moderating or suppressing inflammatory responses, it may be possible to prevent more premature births, which are the leading cause of newborn death in the United States.
One project explores the possibility that prematurity can result from long-time disturbances of the circadian clock that times daily cycles, such as sleep/wake periods and levels of various hormones. Such disturbances might involve environmental factors, or abnormal function of certain genes, such as the one called Clock.
Another project uses a unique Danish database to search for genetic and environmental factors that increase women’s risk of preterm labor and delivery. And one focuses on whether and how certain abnormalities of potassium balance in uterine muscle cells may lead to preterm contractions and delivery.
More than a half million babies are born too soon each year and the preterm birth rate has increased 30 percent since 1981, the first year the government began tracking premature birth rates. While there are several factors that can help predict the risk of preterm birth, there is no known cause for half the cases of premature birth.
This year's PRI grantees are:
- James Lewis McManaman, PhD, associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Colorado at Denver
- Fred W. Turek, PhD, professor and director, Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology, Davee Department of Neurology at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
- Emmet Hirsch, MD, associate professor, department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, Evanston Hospital, Evanston, IL
- Jeffrey Clark Murray, MD, professor of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City
- Douglas Dillon Taylor, PhD, professor, department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY
- Iain L. Buxton, DPharm, professor of Pharmacology, and of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno
- Elizabeth A. Bonney, MD, associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington
- Craig E. Rubens, MD, PhD, professor of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle
The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth.
For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at marchofdimes.com or its Spanish language Web site at nacersano.org.