Breakthrough in pre-eclampsia test

The work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which sponsors around 40 students at the University of Leeds and University of Sheffield to carry out research in the White Rose Doctoral Training Centre (DTC); Physical Methods and Life Sciences.

Dr Fisher made the discovery after giving the project to a new research student as part of her training. She said: "Originally I had been looking at potential indicators of pre-eclampsia in red blood cells, following some earlier studies by Professor Walker. I stored the plasma simply because it seemed wasteful of material not to! Then, when Elizabeth was interested in our work, I asked her to see if there was anything relevant in the stored plasma, and we went on from there."

Further information:
Guy Dixon, University of Leeds media relations
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Notes to editors:

1. The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK with more than 30,000 students from 130 countries. With a total annual income of £422m, Leeds is one of the top ten research universities in the UK, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. It was recently placed 80th in the Times Higher Educational Supplement's world universities league table and the University's vision is to secure a place among the world's top 50 by 2015.

2. Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy specific condition, the causes of which are still not fully understood. The condition develops is around 10% of pregnancies and can only be reversed by delivery of the baby. It is the major cause of maternal and foetal mortality in developed countries. Symptoms and signs of the condition include headache, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, visual disturbances, confusion, vomiting. Pre-eclampsia can also lead to seizures (eclampsia) in around 0.2% of pregnancies and can be associated with complications such as coma and maternal death.

3. There is no early predictor of the condition. If a predictor was to become available monitoring of 90% of the pregnant population could be down graded. The potential cost saving to the NHS has been estimated to be in the order of £500m.

4. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC invests more than £500 million a year in research and postgraduate training to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and from mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements in everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. For more information visit www.epsrc.ac.uk