WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., FEB. 23, 2005 -- To learn more about what causes premature birth, a serious and common problem that is on the rise in the United States, the March of Dimes has awarded the first of its new national Prematurity Research Initiative (PRI) grants, it was announced today.
Nearly half of all premature births (birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation) have no known cause, the March of Dimes says. The organization has granted a total of $2 million over a three-year period beginning March 1, 2005 to six innovative projects seeking new insights and clues into this difficult problem.
"Preterm birth increased at an alarming 29 percent between 1981 and 2002," says Nancy S. Green, M.D., medical director of the March of Dimes. "Too many babies are born very premature (less than 32 weeks) in this country, and the result is that some of them die in the hospital or suffer lifelong consequences such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, and vision and hearing loss. The March of Dimes is committed to helping prevent prematurity from occurring in the first place -- we want every birth to be a full-term, healthy one."
Premature birth affects one in eight babies born in this country and is the leading cause of newborn death. As part of its Prematurity Campaign, which began in 2003, the March of Dimes is increasing its support of research with the goal of reducing the incidence of preterm birth in alignment with the Healthy People 2010 goal, from the current 12.1 percent to 7.6 percent.
"The PRI grants program helps expand opportunities for researchers specializing in prematurity-related topics," says Michael Katz, M.D., senior vice president for Research and Global Programs. "The selected projects target some of the most crucial questions in prematurity research, including the role played by various genes or gene-environment interactions in the cascade of events that lead to early labor; identifying which women in preterm labor will go on to deliver prematurely; and genetic variations that may be involved in the higher rate of prematurity in African-American women."
The six new March of Dimes PRI grantees are:
- Sarah K. England, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Iowa College of Medicine: to investigate cellular mechanisms that help control uterine muscle activity in order to devise a treatment to stop or prevent preterm birth.
- Louis J. Muglia, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and Ob/Gyn at Washington University in St. Louis: to identify genes that play key roles in the timing of spontaneous term and preterm labor and delivery by applying genome-wide search technology.
- Jerome F. Strauss, III, MD, Ph.D., professor of Ob/Gyn and director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Research on Reproduction and Women's Health: to identify genetic variations among African-American women that help to account for their much higher rate of preterm delivery.
- Carole R. Mendelson, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and Ob/Gyn at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas: to study the role of fetal lung surfactant production in initiating and sustaining preterm labor.
- Mala Mahendroo, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ob/Gyn at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas: to identify a genetic mutation that prevents cervical changes and onset of labor at term.
- Stephen J. Lye, Ph.D., professor of physiology and Ob/Gyn and vice-president of research at Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto: to study maternal white blood cells in hopes of identifying patterns in gene expression to determine whether a preterm labor will result in a preterm delivery.
