Project description
Exercise during pregnancy to avoid diabetes
Some pregnant women develop gestational diabetes with a negative impact on both the mother and the foetus. Emerging evidence indicates that exercise can help control blood sugar levels during pregnancy. The EU-funded The MERIT study project aims to investigate the most effective time of exercise. Researchers will study the impact of exercise on healthy, obese and diabetic pregnant women at different times during the day, before or after a meal. Metabolic information from these women will help delineate the potential crosstalk with the placenta. Considering that gestational diabetes increases the susceptibility to diabetes later on in life as well as the chances of transmitting it to subsequent generations, the results of the study are of great clinical importance.
Objective
Hyperglycaemia during pregnancy is a major factor leading to adverse pregnancy complications, and future maternal and offspring diseases. Growing diseases such as obesity and T1DM -hyperglycaemic states- increase this susceptibility to later disease; which can be transmitted to subsequent generations. To find strategies aimed at breaking this intergenerational cycle, which is aggravating the disease burden of this and next generations, is a high-priority within the European Policy Framework.
Exercise has been recently proposed as a mean to better control short-term glycaemic responses such as postprandial glucose and glucose variability, and thus reduce adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. However, it remains unknown which timing of exercise is more effective to optimize postprandial glycaemic control in healthy and impaired metabolic conditions during pregnancy. The mechanisms underlying these benefits also remain to be established. The MERIT project will investigate which timing of exercise (at lunch or dinnertime, and before or after the meal) is more effective to optimize postprandial glycaemic control in healthy, obese and T1DM women during pregnancy. To obtain a mechanistic insight, the muscle molecular signature related to these metabolic responses will be explored, as well as the related muscle molecular changes induced by exercise. This new knowledge on the muscle molecular signature, changes and functionality, will be generated by using last-generation technologies, and cutting-edge bioinformatics analyses. Lastly, the role of the muscle molecular machinery and glycaemic excursions on placental phenotype, and the muscle-placenta crosstalk will be investigated, which further highlights the novelty of this project.
Working under the supervision of Prof. van Poppel and Prof. Desoye will boost the fellow´s scientific career development and professional maturation as an independent researcher, in addition to help him setting this pioneering field in Europe.
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 clinical medicine obstetrics fetal medicine
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology tissue engineering artificial pancreas continuous glucose monitors
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition obesity
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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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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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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.
8010 Graz
Austria
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.