Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC), part of Health Innovation Manchester, brings together world leading academic and NHS partners to drive health research forward.

The MAHSC Seminar Series will showcase the great discovery and clinical science being undertaken within Manchester and its impact on the health of the local population.

The series will give a local platform to the nationally and internationally renowned scientists of MAHSC, to share their work with clinical, non-clinical and university colleagues but also crucially members of the wider community seeking insight into innovations in the delivery of healthcare.

In this fifth seminar, held on 7 October 2020, our speakers discuss how research can improve pregnancy outcomes across Greater Manchester.

The panel chaired by Professor Peter Trainer included, Professor Jenny Myers, Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester and Consultant Obstetrician at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), who presented “New Diagnostic Biomarkers – A Journey from Discovery to Implementation” and Professor Alex Heazell, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics and Clinical Director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre, University of Manchester, who presented “Rainbow Clinic – Translating Evidence into Practice” as part of the seminar session.

Professor Jenny Myers spoke at length about maternal and fetal health research, including analysis on research clinics such as the Manchester Placenta Clinic and the Manchester Antenatal Vascular Service (MAViS) and much more. She started by explaining her work at the Maternal Fetal Health Research Centre at St. Mary’s Hospital: “The Maternal Fetal Health Research Centre which is based on the fifth floor of St. Mary’s Hospital and houses around 70 scientists, clinicians and midwives who are all working towards the understanding of normal and complicated pregnancies. The research that we do at the Centre really spans the full spectrum from discovery science through pre-clinical models and animal work, through to early-phase clinical trials, late-phase clinical trials and implementation science.”

Professor Alex Heazell then presented on the Rainbow Clinic. He said: “If you look at the UK stillbirth statistics, we perform relatively badly. About 1 in 300 babies are stillborn, but perhaps more worrying is that our annual rate of reduction is only 1.4% per year. So where does doing research fit into all of how we might stop babies from dying? Really we need to understand why babies die, and we don’t understand enough about the risk factors and the causes of stillbirth and one of the things that we have done is enhance perinatal audit. We need to conduct really good quality research, develop interventions, implement them and then see if we can prevent stillbirth.”