Review Article
Sayeda Abu-Amero, Anna Thom
Abstract
Two London Universities, University College London and Imperial College London, have established a biobank as a resource for investigating the four main complications of pregnancy (recurrent miscarriage, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and pre-eclampsia), that collectively affect about 20% of families trying to conceive. Samples are being taken from the three key members of the family, mother, father and baby, allowing hereditary factors from both parents to be tracked. Additional samples are being stored to allow parallel analysis of the functional mechanisms of pregnancy including the epigenetic, anatomical, physiological and even metabolic causes for the high loss of fecundity in man. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/babybiobank.