Preterm Genome Project

Yesterday I had a phone call from Dr Jennifer Henderson of the School of Women’s and Infants’ Health (University of Western Australia) based at KEMH. She was calling to ask if I would take part in the Preterm Genome Project, which aims to see if there is a genetic reason why some women give birth early.

3 of these 4 people were born early

As it happens, my grandmother also had three premature babies, only one of whom survived (hi mum!) so I have often wondered if my genes played any part in Talia’s early arrival. We will never know for sure, but if it helps another mother in the future to be forewarned and maybe obtain some extra care to help her pregnancy last longer, then it’s definitely worthwhile.

The researchers at KEMH are recruiting 1200 mothers to participate in their study, where they will compare the DNA of mothers who had prems and mothers who had full termers and see if they can find any patterns which indicate that a particular gene or set of genes makes you more likely to have a prem. Later they will take part in an international study funded by the World Health Organisation and the March of Dimes where DNA will be collected from mothers in 5 different countries. If their research is successful, they hope to be able to predict who is at risk of delivering early. It may also help scientists develop new treatments to prevent preterm birth.

Today I went and donated a blood sample and answered some questions. It won’t change anything for me, but hopefully in the future it might help someone else - maybe even Talia.