Project Lead
Associate Professor Shannon Simpson
Project description
People born very prematurely (before 32 weeks of pregnancy) often face ongoing lung issues and breathing problems throughout their lives. These lung issues in preterm-born individuals vary, so a single treatment won't work for everyone, and it is important to identify features that can be targeted for particular treatments.
This research project will investigate the traits of preterm lung disease, looking into the long-term lung health of children born preterm, aiming to identify traits that could help guide better treatments in the future. Sophisticated machine learning techniques will be used to understand the groups of traits that cluster together to define each type of prematurity-associated lung disease.
We will include:
- Physiological traits – such as blocked or overreactive airways,
- Structural traits – including emphysema and lung tissue issues,
- Clinical traits – such as respiratory symptoms and reduced quality of life,
- Biological traits – including inflammation and impaired healing of the airway’s protective lining.
This multidisciplinary, treatable traits-based approach will enable us to identify specific features that can be targeted with appropriate therapies. It represents a crucial first step toward personalized medicine strategies aimed at improving lung health in individuals born preterm.
Key Outcomes
- Identification of the highest priority treatable traits (or clusters of treatable traits) for those born preterm with chronic respiratory disease across the lifespan.
- Generation of hypotheses for future clinical trials, targeted to those with the treatable traits most likely to respond to the treatment (precision medicine); thus expediting access to treatments.
- Delineate which survivors of preterm birth need close respiratory clinical follow-up, and support implementation of routine respiratory follow-up in survivors of preterm birth.
- Translation of evidence about prematurity-associated respiratory disease into and educational resources for healthcare providers and the broader community and the development precision medicine clinical trial protocols in this population. We will provide evidence for translation into clinical practice and policy (i.e., guidelines, follow up respiratory services) .
The study is led by The Kids Research Institute Australia in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, Curtin University, The University of Western Australia, Erasmus University Medical Center, and Edith Cowan University. The research is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
Be part of our FINGERPRINT study!
We are currently recruiting children born 2013 -2017:
- Preterm children (< 32 weeks gestation) who previously enrolled or expressed interest in previous preterm research studies.
- Term-born children (>37 weeks gestation).
If you’re interested in learning more or getting involved, please contact us on 0416 751 503 or via email preterm@thekids.org.au, we’d love to hear from you!