Menstruating mouse opens the Gates to research funding

Research into a unique mouse species has attracted funding from the Gates Foundation, offering hope for better understanding of human pregnancies.

Researchers at the Gates Foundation were looking for an opportunity to study the mechanisms behind their recent findings from a cohort study of 44,000 pregnancies from key regions around the globe linking neurosteroid changes to poor outcomes, including stillbirth.

They decided to seek the assistance of Hudson Institute of Medical Research because of its strengths in fetal neurodevelopment/brain development research, which, coupled with a  unique spiny mouse model, is the ideal combination of expertise and research capability needed to support this study.

Hudson Institute’s Dr Stacey Ellery said that years of experience in studying pregnancy in this mouse made Hudson researchers the ideal candidates to join this collaborative work.

Spiny mouse key to Gates research funding

“The study, titled ‘Confirming the Significance of Neurosteroid Changes in Normal and Abnormal Pregnancies Using the Spiny Mouse (Acomys dimidiatus)’, will now incorporate the Hudson-developed spiny mouse model,” Dr Ellery said.

This collaboration, led by Dr Stacey Ellery and Dr Nhi Tran of the Bioenergetics in Reproduction Group, and Prof David Walker, brings with it funding worth $US326,000 (approximately $AUD500,000) from the Gates Foundation over one year.

“This will be an ongoing collaboration with the Gates Foundation researchers,” Dr Ellery said, “… ensuring that the clinical and pre-clinical arms of the project continue to inform one another.” 

“We hope this new venture opens the door for future collaborative projects that would benefit from studying our spiny mice.“

About the spiny mouse

The Spiny Mouse (Acomys dimidiatus) is a valuable model for studying women’s reproductive health and pregnancies due to its unique reproductive cycle and trajectory of fetal development in utero, which is much more closely aligned to human pregnancy than standard laboratory mice and rats. 

With the Gates Foundation team, Hudson Institute researchers are using this model to enhance pregnancy research, including the role of neurosteroids in placental function, fetal development, and potential pregnancy complications.

The spiny mouse model offers a unique opportunity to translate research findings into clinical applications for improving outcomes for babies around the globe.