Project description
The hidden signals of pregnancy
Pregnancy brings a range of symptoms for mothers, from nausea and fatigue to pain and bleeding. Often dismissed as temporary discomforts, these symptoms remain largely understudied despite their potential to reveal crucial insights into maternal and foetal health. The ERC-funded AuditeMatrem project aims to change this by uncovering the genetic and proteomic factors behind maternal symptoms. Researchers will create detailed pregnancy profiles, investigate symptom-related biological mechanisms, and explore their links to complications and long-term health. By shifting focus from pregnancy complications to everyday maternal symptoms, AuditeMatrem could revolutionise antenatal care. This groundbreaking research paves the way for early diagnosis and intervention, improving health outcomes for both mothers and children.
Objective
Pregnancy is a unique time of life where mother and child live in symbiosis. This relationship however induces multiple symptoms for mothers including nausea, vomiting, bleeding, pain, fatigue and many more. In their majority, symptoms pass without adverse consequences and are thus understudied. Instead of a temporary inconvenience, what if maternal symptoms were the key to understanding and preventing harmful consequences for both mother and child?
So far, research on pregnancy has primarily focused on complications, maternal survival, and fetal health. Very little is known on the biological underpinnings of the wide range of symptoms mothers experience in the first half of pregnancy, leaving families and healthcare professionals inadequately informed about potential health consequences. Nausea and vomiting is a notable exception, where fetally-expressed proteins have recently been demonstrated to cause maternal symptoms. My recent research has further disentangled the respective contributions of the fetal and maternal genomes and characterized the trajectory of genetic signals over time. In addition, my team has established innovative approaches to study proteins accounting for haplotypic variation, paving the way for new research on how symptoms are mediated between mother and child. These findings open the opportunity to turn the tables, give overlooked maternal symptoms long overdue scientific attention, and unlock their potential in antenatal care.
I hereby propose the creation of a new research framework that will 1) establish pregnancy profiles based on maternal symptoms, 2) reveal their genetic and proteomic underpinnings through the establishment of novel proteogenomic methods, and 3) resolve how maternal symptoms link to pregnancy complications and later health of mother and child. This transformative project will close a long-standing knowledge gap, opening novel research avenues for the study of pregnancy and its consequences for mothers and children.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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
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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-2024-COG
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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.
5020 Bergen
Norway
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