DOCUMENT

Headlines 9 “...you have that poor little brain that's supposed tobe cocoonedby awealth of support the placenta andmumprovides, and suddenly that’s takenawayandyou only havewhatwe canprovide as a medical team.” Associate Professor Max Berry A key result from her study has been establishing the correct dosage of GNX to improve neurodevelopment in animal models – an important step if the therapy were to reach patient trials. She has also collected data on GNX’s effect on the brain’s cerebellum between preterm and full-term birth. “When a baby is born before term, the supply of steroids that promote brain development is reduced, which impairs white matter development. Whereas in the womb, hormones will turn on a type of brain cell at just the right time, then one will join up with another,” Max says. “It’s a constant, dynamic process with all of those connections refining so this little brain evolves over time. It’s not something that can be easily mimicked.” Internationally, scientists are constantly looking at evolving new and innovative therapies and the way in which different ideas can come together to optimise patient outcomes. This could help the treatment reach more babies, in less time. “Realistically, to transition results from a trial to patient takes 20 to 30 years. It's a long time that reflects the ongoing challenges of having stable funding. In the meantime, everything we've done to date will start to filter into other people's work, such as the artificial womb project.” Max says collaboration and synergies are vital to making research worthwhile. As well as lab work, Max spends time talking to mums, families, obstetricians and midwives to inform her work, and places a high value on contributions from PhD students. “The more collaborative and the more synergistic we are in our approach, the more we stand to gain. And I think that is absolutely crucial to really progressing innovation. “With Neurological Foundation funding, this project has enabled several others to take shape, all adding incremental knowledge to our understanding of what preterm birth means,” she says. “I know our work matters to the families I work with in the neonatal unit – families directly impacted by the birth of a preterm or unwell baby. “Our ganaxolone therapy needs further work, but could be a whole new approach to protecting preterm baby brains from birth so that they thrive, not just as newborns, but throughout childhood and into adult life. We believe that’s a goal worth striving for.”