• London centre - pre-eclampsia research
• London centre - preterm labour research
• London centre - developmental programming research

London research centre

Tommy's Maternal and Fetal Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital in London is led by Professor Lucilla Poston, who was appointed as the UK's and Tommy's first Professor of Maternal and Fetal Health in 1995.

Here we outline a few key areas of research within the unit - for more details on each research theme, please click on the links below. For more information about the unit itself, please visit the Unit's website via the link on the right.

To view a list of some of the most recent publications from the research unit, please see the list at the bottom of this page.

This unit is based at St Thomas' Hospital, London and the team of doctors, scientists and midwives working there have received international acclaim for their work. The group combines both scientific work and clinical studies to investigate a range of pregnancy problems.

The group is currently focusing on three principal areas of research: pre-eclampsia, pre-term labour, and the effects of a poor diet in pregnancy on the baby's health in later life (also known as developmental or fetal programming).

Professor Poston says:
"Tommy's investment in the Maternal and Fetal Research Unit has been vital into finding out why problems in pregnancy occur. Continued support will enable us to carry on and expand our research programme and look to decrease the risks that are inherent in pregnancy."

An independent audit of the centre in 2005 by Profs James Roberts (Pittsburgh) and John Challis (Toronto) concluded:
"The unit has built a strong vision of bench to bedside and vice versa, and it has concurrently developed a culture of molecules to organisms to innovation and commercialisation. It has built formidable national and international partnerships ... and benefits from extraordinary leadership and a real team spirit of collaboration. Its success is a terrific validation of the support and vision of Tommy's, the baby charity."

Recent publications

Recent publications from the Maternal & Fetal Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, London include:

• Dann AT, Kenyon AP, Seed PT, Poston L, Shennan AH, Tribe RM. Glutathione S-transferase and liver function in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and pruritis gravidarum. Hepatology 2004; 40: 1406-14.
• Khan IY, Dekou V, Douglas G, Jensen R, Poston L, Taylor PD. A high fat diet during rat pregnancy or suckling induced cardiovascular dysfunction in adult offspring. American Journal of Physiology (Regul Integr Comp Physiol) 2005; 288: R127-R133.
• Reinders A, Cuckson C, Lee JTM, Shennan A. An accurate automated blood pressure device for use in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia: the microlife 3BTO-A. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2005; 112: 915-20.
• Riley M, Baker PN, Tribe RM, Taggart MJ. Expression of scaffolding, signalling and contractile-filament proteins in human myometria: effects of pregnancy and labour. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine 2005; 9: 122-34.
• Sheenan A, Crawshaw S, Briley A, Hawken J, Seed P, Jones G, Poston L. A randomised controlled trial of metronidazole for the prevention of preterm birth in women positive for cervicovaginal fetal fibronectin: the PREMET study. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2006; 113: 65-74.
• Shennan AH. Recent developments in obstetrics. British Medical Journal 2005; 327: 604-8.
• Shennan A, Jones G, Hawken J, Crawshaw S, Judah J, Senior V, Marteau T, Chinn S, Poston L. Fetal fibronectin test predicts delivery before 30 weeks of gestation in high risk women, but increases anxiety. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2005; 112: 293-8.
• Taylor PD, McConnell JM, Khan IY, Holemans K, Lawrence KM, Asare-Anane H, Persaud SJ, Jones PM, Petrie L, Hanson MA, Poston L. Impaired glucose homeostasis and mitochondrial abnormalities in offspring of rats fed a fat-rich diet in pregnancy. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 2005; 288: R134-139.
• Waugh JJ, Bell SC, Kilby MD, Blackwell CN, Seed P, Shennan AH, Halligan AW. Optimal bedside urinalysis for the detection of proteinuria in hypertensive pregnancy: a study of diagnostic accuracy. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2005; 112: 412-17.