Project Grant R01HD117802

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) provides $661,258 to the University of Washington (UW) to conduct a multi-faceted initiative to improve clinical evaluation and data collection for stillbirth, advance tools to evaluate maternal-fetal interface immune biology and detect placental dysfunction, and develop predictive models for stillbirth risk.

The key products and services to be delivered under this 5-year award include: (1) Implementing a standardized stillbirth evaluation pathway across the UW hospital network to improve clinical data collection; (2) Delineating maternal-fetal interface genomic and immune signatures associated with placental dysfunction and stillbirth using paired maternal-fetal whole genome sequencing and placental immune profiling; and (3) Developing a personalized, high-fidelity predictive model for stillbirth risk using machine learning approaches. This research aims to facilitate a precision medicine approach to addressing disparities in stillbirth outcomes and enabling the development of novel interventions and prevention strategies.