The Pregnancy and Reproduction Program incorporates 70 researchers and 26 research students from the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health, focused on understanding mechanisms and the environmental and biological processes that control reproduction and birth.
Researchers working within the program are affiliated with the University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science.
The Pregnancy and Reproduction Program is led by Professors Roger Smith, Keith Jones and Laureate Professor John Aitken from the University of Newcastle, and is based on the two major research themes of:
- Infertility and reproduction
- Pregnancy and premature birth
Research takes place around seven key areas:
- Mechanisms that influence or lead to premature birth
- Novel therapies to prevent preterm birth
- Predicting adverse outcomes of human birth
- Determining the paternal role in miscarriage and birth defects
- Improving the diagnosis and treatment of male and female infertility
- Developing novel methods to regulate fertility
- Understanding the mechanisms of decline in female fertility with age
- Understanding the processes of egg growth and maturation
Many of the researchers are also members of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development.
Hunter researchers have made significant contributions to the health and wellbeing of families in pregnancy and reproduction, including improving diagnosis and treatment of male infertility and developing new sperm isolation technologies for assisted conception.
They have also made great advances in predicting the onset of premature birth, identifying the key role played by maternal asthma on the health of the foetus and the role gender plays in adverse infant health events.
