New biomarkers in prenatal care
Head of the research group: NÁNDOR GÁBOR THAN
Research concept
The Systems Biology of Reproduction Research Group studies the obstetrical, biological, immunological, pathological and systems biological aspects of the ‘Great Obstetrical Syndromes’. The importance of the topic is supported by the fact that 70% of pregnancies and 15% of clinically recognized pregnancies end with miscarriage, and 25% of pregnant women have obstetrical syndromes that may have severe impact on the health of both mother and child. The research group studies and characterizes signal transduction pathways that may play key role in the development of miscarriages and obstetrical syndromes. The focus is on the systems biological investigation of the complex and overlapping dysregulation of maternal-fetal immuntolerance, trophoblast invasion and differentiation. Besides describing molecular pathways and signaling networks of pregnancy complications, our investigations may also reveal novel biomarkers and drug targets.
Human resources
- Judit Baunoch, assistant
- Diána Csala, MSc, biotechnologist
- Péter Király, MSc, chemist
- Andrea Papp-Balogh, MSc, PhD, research fellow
- Nándor Gábor Than, MD, PhD, senior research fellow, group leader
- Eszter Tóth, MSc, PhD, research fellow
Laboratories, rooms
The Perinatal Biobank established at the Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences provides an excellent place for the planned unique pregnancy biospecimen collection, which will contain samples from thousands of patients. The laboratory was set up according to international and industrial standards. There is continuously monitored air conditioning in the laboratory, also linked to an alarm system. The ultradeep freezers are supplemented with uninterruptible power supply, CO2 backup, and a temperature alarm system. Samples are catalogued by a 2D barcoded datamatrix storage system.
Equipments
- Nuare ultradeep freezers
- 2D barcoded datamatrix storage system
- Biobank accreditation – under way