Perinatal Research Centre - Centre for Clinical Research

Better health outcomes for mothers and babies

Mission

To advance the health of mothers and babies by understanding and preventing pregnancy and birth complications.

Goals

To achieve excellence in all aspects of perinatal research
To achieve excellence in teaching and to enhance knowledge of the perinatal period
To benefit individuals and society through improved perinatal health outcomes

The Perinatal Research Centre, under the direction of Professor Paul Colditz, is committed to improving perinatal health through world class biomedical and clinical research. Our multidisciplinary research team aims to translate research advances into clinical practice and better health outcomes for mothers and babies.

The Perinatal Research Centre (PRC) was founded in 1992 as an initiative of the then Royal Women's Hospital Foundation (now known as the Royal Brisbane & Womens Hospital Foundation) and is a Centre within The University of Queensland's Faculty of Medicine. Prestigious philanthropic and research bodies have recognised the impact of the PRC in maternal and infant health research and awarded funding to support important original research. The PRC specialises in translational research from pure science to playing a key role within the RBWH in clinical trials. These trials have not only been instrumental in improving care of the mothers and babies at the RBWH but also nationally and internationally.

Contact

p.colditz@uq.edu.au

Academic staff

Dr Bhavisha Bakrania

Research Fellow/Senior Research Officer & Research Fellow/Senior Research officer

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Professor Boualem Boashash

Emeritus Professor
Dr Kirat Chand

Research Fellow/Senior Research officer

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Professor Paul Colditz

Director

Perinatal Research Centre
Dr Yvonne Eiby

Research Fellow & Senior Research Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Dr Julie Wixey

Senior Research Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Dr Omkar Patkar

Senior Research Officer

UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Students

Miss Tam Nguyen

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Kelli Brandis

Student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Ms Hannah Musco

PhD student & Casual Research Assistant

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Mrs Victoria Hinkley

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Bhuvana Harishankar

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Prasidhee Vijayakumar

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Ms Glory Eh

Honours student & Casual Animal Technical Assistant

UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Research Affiliates

Professor Roslyn Boyd, Scientific Director of Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre
Dr Marloes Dekker, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences UQ
Dr Helen Barrett, Director of Endocrinology, Mater Hospital
Professor Mark Davies, Neonatologist, Royal Brisbane Clinical Unit
Professor David Tudehope, Mater Director of Neonatology
Dr Jatin Patel, Senior ARC DECRA Fellow, UQDI
Dr Kerstin Pannek, Postdoctoral Fellow, CSIRO
Dr Jurgen Fripp, Group Leader CSIRO Image Analysis
Associate Professor Tim Donovan, Royal Brisbane Clinical Unit
Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani, Professorial Research Fellow, UQDI
Professor David McIntyre, Conjoint Head, Mater Clinical Unit
Professor Vicki Flenady, Director Stillbirth CRE, MRI-UQ
Associate Professor Glenda Gobe, School of Biomedical Sciences, UQ
Dr Michael Colditz, Neurosurgeon
Dr David Gunn, Ophthalmologist, QEI
Dr Aven Lee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UQCCR
Dr Melissa Lai, Neonatologist, Royal Brisbane Clinical Unit
Dr Jany Pienaar, Neonatology Fellow, Royal Brisbane Clinical Unit

Adjunct and Honorary

Professor Eugenie Lumbers, Honorary Fellow
Professor Christine East, Honorary Fellow
Associate Professor Nigel Barnett, Honorary Fellow
Katie Foxcroft, Adjunct Fellow
Dr Therese De Dassell, Honorary Fellow
Dr Randal Moldrich, Honorary Fellow
Dr Janet Hammill, Honorary Fellow
Professor Ian Wright, Honorary Fellow
Stephanie Lawton, Adjunct Fellow
Professor Stephen Rose, Honorary Fellow
Dr Christopher Burke, Adjunct Fellow
Dr Barbara Lingwood, Honorary Associate Professor
Dr Margo Pritchard, Honorary Associate Professor
Dr Simon Finnigan, Adjunct Senior Fellow

Brain

The ultimate goal of the Brain Research Group is to develop therapies which will minimise neurological injury and improve infant outcome through a better understanding of the mechanisms of cell injury and death.

A severe hypoxic/ischemic insult to the developing infant brain carries with it a high risk of neurological disability and in some cases death. In Australia approximately 3.5% of all perinatal deaths are due to asphyxia. The development of neural rescue therapies will result in less disabilities. However the opportunity to improve long-term outcome may only last 12 to 24 hours following a hypoxic insult. It is therefore necessary to rapidly identify infants at risk of a poor neurodevelopmental outcome so that potential benefits of neural rescue therapies can be maximised. Currently there is no technique available which can accurately identify these infants within the required time period. We have several projects aimed at finding the neccessary new techniques.

The numerous physiological and biochemical events that arise as a consequence of oxygen and glucose deprivation in hypoxia-ischemia, offer the potential for reducing neurological damage through interruption or possibly termination of neuronal cell death. In order to develop a clinical strategy to manage hypoxic-ischemic disease successfully, a greater understanding is needed of the complex processes which underlie hypoxic-ischemic neuronal pathology and dysfunction.

Current research interests of the PRC Brain Research Group include:

Neuroprotection - including hypothermia and the use of pharmacological agents as a rescue therapy
Neonatal seizures - detection and treatment
Mechanisms of HI brain injury - inflammation and excitotoxicity
Brain injury in the intrauterine growth restricted neonate
Effects of nutrition and the environment on preterm brain development
Tracking preterm brain development with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and EEG
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)

With research driven from different perspectives focused on a better understanding of the mechanisms of cell injury, death and repair, our ultimate goal is to develop therapies to improve infant outcomes.

Projects

Long-term protection in the growth restricted newborn

Clinical trials

The Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) provides and maintains a sophisticated, efficient and internationally recognised quality perinatal clinical trials service with the RBWH. The unit is active in collaborative and original clinical research. Evidence based practice is key in modern healthcare. The Cochrane Collaboration is a repository of the highest quality evidence underpinning health care practices. The PRC is active in contributing to this collaboration across a variety of areas of expertise that encompass all the PRC groups. Protocols are developed and published with regular updates provided through systematic review of published material. Systematic reviews are utilised by health policy makers, clinicians, researchers and consumers to stay abreast of findings and provide the highest quality health care.

Current clinical trials

A Study of the Impact of Treating Electrographic Seizures in Term or Near-Term Infants with Neonatal Encephalopathy (NEST).
High-flow Nasal Cannulae as Post-extubation Respiratory Support in Premature Infants: A CPAP Equivalent? (The HIPERSPACE Trial)
PREBO Preterm Brain Outcomes– The aim of this project is to predict neurodevelopmental disability in babies born very preterm, earlier and more accurately than currently possible.
PREBO-6 – nPrediction of childhood brain outcomes in infants born preterm using neonatal MRI and concurrent clinical biomarkers
PEACH - Is early accumulation of fat and reduction in fat free mass in preterm infants associated with adverse cognitive or metabolic outcomes in childhood?
Is ibuprofen associated with neuroprotection in the SGA infant? Neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years following ibuprofen treatment for patent ductus arteriosus in the preterm small for gestational age newborn: potential for neuroprotection

Contact

Contact Professor Paul Colditz for further information relating to student projects in the above clinical trials.

Signal processing

The signal processing research and consultancy group (SPRC) undertakes fundamental research in time-frequency signal processing with biomedical applications, with particular application to neonatal seizure treatment and prevention, fetal movement detection and generally improving health outcomes.

Research activities

1) Development of time-frequency signal processing algorithms and techniques

Design of reduced interference time-frequency distributions
Algorithm design for the implementation of discrete time-frequency distributions
Classification of nonstationary signals in time-frequency and Doppler-lag domains
Time-frequency array processing of multichannel data
Design of optimal time-frequency matched filters
Algorithms for instantaneous frequency estimation

Time Frequency Signal Analysis (TFSA) Matlab Toolbox

2) Biomedical applications

Analysis of newborn EEG for abnormality detection and classification
- Diagnostic and prognostic analysis of background and interictal EEG abnormalities
- Newborn EEG seizure detection
Newborn EEG source localization
Multivariate brain connectivity analysis
Fetal movement detection
Data acquisition and labelling
Preprocessing of biological signals for noise and artifact removal

Funding

In the past decade over $5 million of competitive research funding has been obtained for seizure detection in the newborn, newborn EEG simulation and fetal movement detection.

Systems physiology

The Systems Physiology Research Group comprises two inter-related areas - body composition and preterm cardiovascular function. Dr Yvonne Eiby and Dr Barbara Lingwood are investigating the unique cardiovascular physiology of preterm neonates in order to rationally develop novel therapeutic strategies to improve cardiovascular function, and thus protect the developing brain. Dr Lingwood, Dr Eiby and A/Prof Donovan are also studying body composition in neonates with the aim of optimising nutrition and growth of infants in order to improve brain outcomes and reduce cardiometabolic risk.

Projects

Loss of blood volume at the capillary level contributes to poor outcomes for preterm infants

Help improve health outcomes for mothers and babies

We wish to thank all of our sponsors who have been so generous in joining us to achieve our mission. We urge you to support this wonderful group of retailers and supporters:

Harcourts Foundation; Oris; Styled Events; Dave Behrens; Van Larkins; Simone Perele; Evoque; The Hour Glass; High Tea & Homeware; Kids Rule; Studio Impressions; Smartline; Scrumptious Reads; Imaging Solutions; Smartline Personal Mortgage Brokers; Redlands Realty.

The PRC is a self-financing research centre with the vast majority of funding coming from competitive peer reviewed research grants. Some funding also comes from industry contracts, The University of Queensland and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Foundation.

We are very grateful to the RBWH Foundation, the Lions Medical Research Foundation, Children's Hospital Foundation, Deloitte, the RBWH Auxiliary and others who help to support our work through fund-raising activities.

If you would like to help raise funds to support our vital research please contact Dr Julie Wixey on 07 3346 6027 or j.wixey@uq.edu.au.

Donations are tax-deductible.