Project description
Understanding pregnancy loss on women mental health
Pregnancy loss significantly impacts the mental health of women. While we understand how pregnancy prepares a woman’s brain for motherhood, the effects of an abrupt pregnancy termination on brain plasticity remain unknown. The ERC-funded HealthyMom project will investigate the impact of unwanted pregnancy terminations on the female brain. It will explore how changes in brain anatomy and function during these losses influence maternal mental health and contribute to stigma. The study will collect longitudinal data from women following early miscarriages or stillbirths, involving repeated brain imaging, hormonal assessments, and mental health monitoring. It will also conduct whole genome sequencing for the women and their partners to explore genetic and environmental factors affecting mental health.
Objective
Pregnancy loss oftentimes yields extensive negative consequences on the mental health of the affected women and their families, yet it is a largely neglected factor in global health. While we have started to gain insights into how pregnancy shapes the female brain toward motherhood, the impact of the abrupt termination of pregnancy on maternal brain plasticity remains largely unknown. Here, I seek to study traces of unwanted terminated pregnancy following early and late pregnancy loss in the female brain, understanding to what degree motherhood associated changes in brain anatomy and function are formed back when a pregnancy is lost. I aim to identify traces and determinants of afflicted mental health in this period of profound vulnerability and (self-)stigmatization. Leveraging my portfolio of expertise in multimodal brain imaging, statistical genetics, and computational psychiatry, the HealthyMom project will acquire unique longitudinal data of the weeks and months following early miscarriage or stillbirth. Specifically, women will undergo repeated brain imaging, hormonal assessment and a comprehensive monitoring of their mental health. I will perform whole genome sequencing, not only of the women but also of their life partners. Together with detailed surveys, this will allow me to uncover how individual brain trajectories relate to environmental levers for mental health maintenance and to genetic risk factors, including genetic effects of the partners on the women. The project will draw on existing big data and advanced computational modelling techniques to chart individual brain imaging patterns in the context of the population norm. As such, HealthyMom offers unprecedented opportunities to understand female-specific brain dynamics and to reveal neurogenetic signatures of mental disorder vulnerability as well as targets for maintaining maternal mental health. It has significant implications for women’s health and (indirectly) the health of future offspring.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine anatomy and morphology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine psychiatry
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine obstetrics
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
72074 Tuebingen
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.