The Department, headed by Professor Dimitrios Siassakos, represents a significant collaboration of scientists and clinicians with a unifying aim to improve outcomes for pregnant women and their babies through improved diagnosis and treatment. Research ranges from investigation of mechanisms of conditions such as preterm birth, fetal growth restriction and perinatally acquired brain injury to the development of novel therapies using vector based gene delivery and stem cell based strategies to address prenatal acquired and congenital abnormalities.
We carry out research in 4 main areas:
Regenerative Medicine (cell, exosome and gene therapy)
Placenta Biology
Preterm Birth - Tommy's National Centre for Preterm Research at UCL
Perinatal Care
Professor Anna David
Prenatal TherapyCurrent treatment options for fetuses identified as having congenital structural or genetic abnormalities are limited. Combining recent advances in stem cell and gene transfer technology with advanced bioengineering will enable fetal therapy earlier in pregnancy.
Professor Simon Waddington
Gene Transfer TechnologyLatest developments in gene transfer technology are being used to develop perinatal gene therapy for early onset lethal genetic diseases as well as providing novel methods to understand fundamental cell signaling pathways and disease mechanism.
Dr Rosalind Aughwane
Placenta ImagingDiscovering whether a safe medical imaging technology (Magnetic Resonance maging (MRI) can be developed to assess how well the placenta is working during pregnancy.
Dr Julia Zollner
Prediction of Gestational SyndromesExploring translational applications of OMICS technologies for the early detection and personalised management of women with gestational syndromes. Current focus is on diverse populations using polygenic methods.
Professor Pascale V Guillot
Stem Cell and Exosome TherapyDeveloping the next generation of personalised medicine through stem cell and small extracellular vesicles (exosomes) therapy.
Dr Owen Vaughan
Fetal and Placental PhysiologyUnderstanding what causes pregnancy complications and developing new ways to treat them.
Dr Helen O'Neill
Currently on 3 year secondment funded by a UKRI Innovation Scholars Grant: The Use of A Combined Clinical Symptom and Biomarker-Based Model to Predict Risk of Developing Reproductive Conditions and Fertility Potential.
Dr Ashley Boyle
Preterm LabourUnderstanding the complex interactions between maternal immune responses and resident bacterial populations provides new ways to predict the risk of preterm labour in early pregnancy.
Professor Dimitrios Siassakos
Perinatal Care & Operative BirthOptimising health and safety in pregnancy and birth for every parent. The group's work specifically focuses on birth and birth emergencies, as well as perinatal death and brain injury prevention.
Dr Rajvinder Karda
Gene Therapy & Editing for Childhood Genetic Epilepsies Developing novel gene therapy and gene editing treatments for early onset, incurable genetic diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system.
Professor David Williams
Obstetric MedicineUnderstanding the causes of pregnancy - related syndromes will lead to novel therapies that not only optimise pregnancy outcomes for mother and child, and prevent future disease in mother, father and offspring in later life.
Professor Rezan A Kadir
Thrombosis and HaemostasisExploring thrombosis and haemostasis issues in women and improve general and reproductive health of women affected with bleeding or thrombotic disorders in the UK and internationally.
Centre for Prenatal Therapy
Transforming prenatal care by providing novel therapeutic options for parents whose unborn baby has a structural abnormality. .
Current Research Students
Explore the list of research students within our Research Department of Maternal & Fetal Medicine and visit their profiles.
