KHI NEWS SERVICE
KANSAS CITY, Kan., June 25
Joan Hunt, a researcher at the University of Kansas Medical Center, has been awarded more than $4.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to lead
research on improved communication between mothers and their fetuses in utero.
The work is aimed at reducing the number of miscarriages and other fertility problems, which affect nearly one in 10 couples, KU officials said.
Also included in the five-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
are Carole Ober, a professor of human genetics, at the University of Chicago; and Margaret Petroff, assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology, also at the KU Medical Center.
Hunt is a distinguished professor of anatomy and cell biology and also is vice chancellor for biomedical research infrastructure.
“With the number of preterm births on the increase, we are focused on learning more about how to improve the odds for more successful pregnancies,” Hunt said in a prepared statement. “We know that nearly 15,000 babies are born worldwide every hour, though we have yet to completely understand the dynamics between moms and this foreign body they carry.
Our work is focused on the immunological response that has intrigued scientists for decades.”
A major component of the collaborative research will examine the critical aspects of HLA-G gene expression, regulation and function, which the researchers hope will lead to new and improved therapies for impaired fertility.
The research at KU Medical Center is housed in the new Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center, designed to foster collaborative work by university scientists engaged in life sciences research.