Gestational diseases and disorders in pregnancy: prevention, identification, treatment and control
Friday 18th October 2013
Cineworld: The O2, London, SE10 0DX, UK
Gestational maternal diseases and disorders, brought on by pregnancy, can impact on maternal and foetal health both during and after pregnancy. This event aims is to look at current research and practice into early identification of disease development and treatment that has low foetal impact.
This event has CPD accreditation and is part of the 2013 Pregnancy Summit - www.PregnancySummit2013.com
Meeting Chair: Professor Ray Iles, Chief Scientist, The ELK-Foundation for Health Research and MAP Diagnostics, UK
Who Should Attend
Biotech and Pharma Industry: CEOs, Chief Scientists, Group Heads, Senior and Junior Scientists, Research working in the field of autoimmunity or pregnancy
Academic and Research Institutes: Group and Lab Heads, Postdoctoral Scientists and Research Students working in the field of autoimmunity or pregnancy
Clinicians: Anyone working in the field of pregnancy and diagnosing pregnancy-related illnesses and pregnancy outcome
The deadline for abstract submissions has now passed. Abstracts for poster presentation only can be submitted up to two weeks before the event. You can download the instructions for authors at
www.euroscicon.com/AbstractsForOralAndPosterPresentation.pdf
Talk times include 5 – 10 minutes for questions
9:00 – 9:45 Registration
9:45 – 10:15 Introduction by the Chair: Should we be measuring maternal cortisol throughout pregnancy?
Professor Ray Iles, Chief Scientist, The ELK-Foundation for Health Research and MAP Diagnostics, UK
Stress is both a physical and psychological manifestation but has profound endocrinological responses which not only leads to aging/allostatic loading of adult tissues but effect both physical and psychological neurological development of the fetus. A major driver in the stress response is cortisol which not only activates many of these metabolic and neurological changes but can act as a marker of the amount of stress hormones to which the developing fetus is being exposed. The importance of cortisol in maternal and fetal health post pre and post partum is discussed as are studies suggesting the long term effects on the determination of the anxiety personality of an individual may be are affected by fetal exposure to cortisol in utero. If maternal stress and cortisol does profoundly effect the psychoneuroendocrinology of the newborn how and when should we measure it.
10:15 – 10:45 How Gestational Syndromes predict future maternal and paternal health
Dr David Williams, University College Hospital, UK
Pregnancy acts as a physical stress test for the mother. In order for pregnancy to succeed a woman needs to make profound physiological adaptations. Failure to make these changes adversely affects pregnancy outcome and can lead to gestational syndromes. Delivery of the baby is the cure, but pregnancy outcome can predict a mother’s future health and even the health of the father. This talk discusses these issues and potential measures to prevent primary disease in the parents.
10:45 – 11:15 C19MC microRNAs – potential biomarkers for preeclampsia, gestational hypertension and fetal growth restriction
Professor Ilona Hromadnikova, Head, Dpt. Molecular Biology and Cell Pathology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
MicroRNAs belong to a family of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression. There has been a trend in prenatal medicine over the last 10 years to develop non-invasive methods utilizing quantification of circulating nucleic acids, inclusive of microRNAs. For the first time we demonstrated that the expression profile of C19MC microRNAs differed in placental tissues between pregnancy-related complications and controls. The down-regulation of C19MC microRNAs was more common in patients with preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction and less common in gestational hypertension. Likewise, we showed that circulating C19MC microRNAs also played a role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, but not in the pathogenesis of gestational hypertension, and fetal growth restriction. The study brought interesting finding that the up-regulation of circulating C19MC microRNA biomarkers (miR-517*, miR-520a* and miR-525) is a characteristic phenomenon of pregnancies with established preeclampsia.
11:15 – 11:45 Speakers’ photo then mid-morning break and poster exhibition and trade show
11:45 – 12:15 A newly designed pathway for the management of suspected inguinal hernias in pregnancy
Dr Michael N. Lechner, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
Pregnant women with a swelling of the groin are often referred for herniotomy after clinical examination only. Differential diagnosis are hardly considered, sonography is not usually employed and patients are occasionally subjected to surgical exploration of the inguinal region. We evaluated 18 cases prospectively, detected no hernias but always noted the presence of round ligament varicosis. All women gave uncomplicated birth, their complaints subsided within weeks after delivery and no patient had developed hernias by the end of follow-up after a median 11 months. With the described diagnostic pathway the correct diagnosis can be made and surgery is avoided.
12:15 – 12:45 The Baby Bio Bank: a collection of biological samples and medical data from 2500 families affected by recurrent miscarriage, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia available to researchers internationally
Dr Nita Solanky, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK
The BabyBioBank is a unique collection of biological samples and medical data available to researchers interested in understanding pregnancy complications. Our target is to recruit 2000 trios (mother, father and baby) from pregnancies affected by recurrent miscarriage, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia, and 500 normal trios for comparative purposes. Blood samples for DNA, serum and plasma, and urine, are collected from parents. After delivery we collect placental tissue, membranes, umbilical cord and cord blood for DNA, RNA and protein isolation. Quality control has shown that the samples are of high quality. We also collect 300 fields of clinical information relating to factors affecting pregnancy and fetal outcome. Information on the BabyBioBank is available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/babybiobank including protocols and information about the application procedure.
12:45 – 13:30 Lunch, poster exhibition and trade show
13:30 – 14:30 Question and Answer Session
14:30 – 14:45 Oral Presentations:
14:30 – 14:45 Dietary treatment in gestational diabetes relation with birth weight
Marianne Vestgaard, Allan Stubbe Christensen, Lone Viggers, Finn Friis Lauszus
Dept. of Obstetrics and Nutrition, Herning Hospital, Denmark, Corresponding author: Finn Friis Lauszus. Email: finlau@rm.dk
14:45 – 15:15 Afternoon Tea, last poster session and trade show
15:15 – 15:45 Talk title to be confirmed
Dr Anne Dornhorst, Imperial College London, UK
15:45 – 16:15 Is it time for universal thyroid screening for pregnant women?
Dr Bijay Vaidya, Consultant Endocrinologist & Honorary Associate Professor, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital & University of Exeter Medical School, UK
Thyroid hormones are important for neurological development of the fetus. However, the fetal thyroid gland does not secrete thyroid hormones until about 14 weeks gestation; the fetus relies on maternal thyroid hormones in early pregnancy. There is increasing evidence that even mild thyroid hormone insufficiency in pregnancy is associated with impaired neurological development of offspring and other adverse obstetric outcomes. Therefore, should all pregnant women be screened and treated for mild thyroid dysfunction? This talk discusses the evidence for and against universal thyroid screening in pregnancy.
16:15 - 16:45 Advancing pregnancy monitoring: Towards point-of-care tools in clinics and hospitals
Dr Maiwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow, Heriot-Watt University, UK
The flow of circulating foetal nucleic acids (cfNA) in maternal circulation provides a unique opportunity towards the development of techniques for Non Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) for identifying and controling gestational diseases and disorders such as pre-eclampsia and chromosomal abnormalities. However, the requirement of specialist and costly equipment limit the broad implementation of existing techniques. Microfluidics, the precise manipulation of fluid at the microscale, is an enabling technology which may overcome some of the current NIPT challenges and deliver faster results at a cheaper cost. In the discussion for near-patient testing, a novel direct cfNA sample preparation will be presented.
16:45- 17:00 Chairman’s Summary and Close of Meeting
About the Chair
Ray Iles has 25 years experience in clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics from Downs Syndrome screening to biomarkers of cancer metastasis. He has eight years of University senior manager experience, whilst maintaining active research as a Professor of Biomedical Sciences and expert in Biomarkers and oncofetal antigen biology. Ray is currently developing IP to market biotechnology tech transfer in cancer and prenatal diagnosis; also future patents linking salivary biomarkers with stress profiling and wellbeing.
About the Speakers
David Williams is a Consultant Obstetric Physician at The Institute for Women’s Health, University College London Hospital (UCLH) and honorary senior lecturer in maternal medicine at UCL.His clinical work is centred on the management of medical disorders during pregnancy. He has a particular expertise and interest in the management of hypertension, kidney disease, diabetes, thyroid disease, rheumatic disorders and gestational syndromes during pregnancy.His research team is investigating the causes of pre-eclampsia. His team are also investigating the long-term consequences of gestational syndromes on women’s future health as well as the future health of the fetus and of the father of the pregnancy.
Ilona Hromadnikova is a Professor of Immunology and the Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Cell Pathology at the Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic. She was one of the pioneers of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis based on the presence of fetal cells and fetal nucleic acids in maternal circulation in Europe. Ilona’s team participated on the standardisation of non-invasive fetal sex and Rh status determination methods in pregnancies at risk of X-linked disorders and haemolytic disease of newborn (EC, Sixth Framework Programme, SAFE - The Special Non-Invasive Advances in Fetal and Neonatal Evaluation Network, LSHB-CT-2004-503243). Her team was awarded in 2007 by International Research Award from Turkish German Gynecological Association (the publication of the year: Non-invasive Determination of Fetal c and E Allele of RHCE Gene Via Real-Time PCR Testing of Extracellular DNA Extracted from Maternal Plasma Sample). Dr. Ilona Hromadnikova was a Chairwoman of Organising Committee of 12th Fetal Cell Workshop, Satellite Symposium of the 10th International Congress of Human Genetics 2001, Prague, Czech Republic.
Michael N. Lechner graduated from Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz (2002).He was trained in Austria, Germany and Australia and obtained his registration as a general practitioner with the Austrian Medical Council and the right to practice in 2005.Upon completion of his surgical training in 2011 he spent a fellowship of six months in Vascular Surgery and is currently employed as a surgical specialist at the teaching hopsital of Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. He is the deputy head of the department’s hernia clinic and has a special interest in thoracic surgery and in the managment of abdominal trauma.
Nita Solanky was awarded her PhD in the regulation placental iron transport from the Royal Free Hospital, UCL in 2005. Following this Nita continued her research in placental nutrient transport at the University of Manchester where she researched placental folic acid transport and the role of homocysteine on placental vasculature. Currently based at the Institute of Child Health at UCL and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital at Imperial College, Nita is a Research Associate on the Baby Bio Bank, a research project that collects tissue samples for the four major complications of pregnancy—recurrent miscarriage, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, and pre-eclampsia.
Bijay Vaidya is a consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and honorary associate professor (reader) at the University of Exeter Medical School. He has special clinical and research interest in thyroid diseases in pregnancy. He has served as treasurer and a member of executive committee of the British Thyroid Association. He is an editorial board member of a number of journals, including QJM and BioMed Research International.
Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas is a Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Fellow in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University. She holds two MSc degrees in Micro and Nanotechnologies and Electronics. Her PhD study (Heriot-Watt University) involved the development of a microfluidic chip for blood plasma extraction. She also initiated and set up a clinical study in collaboration with NHS Lothian, to demonstrate the concept of amplifying fetal cell-free DNA in maternal plasma extracted on-chip. Her current research aims at applying microfluidic concepts to develop affordable, non-invasive, prenatal testing tools for use in clinics and hospitals.
Post expires at 2:16pm on Friday October 18th, 2013
Tags: autoimmune disease, Biobank, biomarkers, circulating DNA, fetal growth restriction, gestational diabetes, inguinal hernia, IUGR, managment, microfluidics, non-invasive, pathway, point-of-care, postpartum depression, pre-eclampsia, Pregnancy, Prematurity, Prenatal testing, Recurrent miscarriage, round ligament varicosis, screening., Thyroid
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