10 Jun 22. Theirworld 20th anniversary

To view the Theirworld 20th anniversary short film, please click here.

 

The film features moving stories of children whose lives have been saved thanks to research at the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, which was created by children’s charity Theirworld and is located in the Centre for Reproductive Health (CRH).

Sarah Brown and her husband, the former British Prime Minister, established the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory after their daughter, Jennifer, died just 10 days after she was born at 33 weeks in 2001. 

The Laboratory has developed a reputation for pioneering research into why babies are born early, while investigating how to save more lives and treat early newborns more effectively.

 

The Centre for Reproductive Health’s Professor James Boardman, Director, Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, said: 

“We know that some children who are born premature at the moment don’t fulfil their full life potential because of the difficulties around the time of birth and the effect that that has on their brain development. 

Our hope for the future is that we’ll be able to continue to follow the children, target our developing treatments, and find the best way to support them so they can fulfil their life potential.” 

 

Sarah Brown, Chair of Theirworld, said:

“The Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory is right at the forefront of where medical science is going to take us next. We’ve got investment into a longitudinal study that will carry information going forward for years, combined with the fields of genetics and neuroscience. 

We’re looking at the future frontiers of where medical research and science is going and allowing us to invest back in our babies, which is what it’s all about, to make sure that they have the best start in life.” 

 

Also featured in the video is the Theirworld Edinburgh Birth Cohort (TEBC) study, a longitudinal study that collects MR scans of babies to childhood, to study the causes and consequences of being born too soon or too small, on brain development.

The study, led by Professor James Boardman, includes capturing images of the brain on the MR scanner at the Edinburgh Imaging Facility RIE.

The first premature baby was scanned at the Edinburgh Imaging Facility RIE in 2017. Dr Hilary Richardson, Prof James Boardman and colleagues recently gained Wellcome Trust Institutional Support Funding to develop an imaging protocol for children at 5-years of age. The pilot was successful and the team hopes to invite all TEBC participants back for a 5-year scan of brain structure and function. This longitudinal approach will determine the impact of birth events at school age.

 

To view the Theirworld 20th anniversary short film, please click here.