For immediate release: May 24, 2007
Contact: Emily Wofford Cobb
Public Relations Manager
775-784-6006
ecobb@medicine.nevada.edu
School of Medicine researchers receive grant from the
National Institutes of Health to study cause of preterm birth
Iain Buxton, Pharm.D. to lead five-year, million dollar grant program
RENO, Nev.—Researchers from the University of Nevada School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the cause of preterm birth. Iain Buxton, Pharm.D., professor of pharmacology, will serve as the study’s lead investigator. The million dollar program, which will use samples of human tissue from women undergoing cesarean delivery, will be conducted in collaboration with physicians in the school’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Las Vegas as well as obstetricians in Reno.
“The objective of the research is to determine the signaling mechanisms that are unique to or altered in the human uterine muscle in preterm labor,” says Buxton. “Presently, the cause of preterm labor is unknown and because of this, current treatments for premature labor are inadequate and no current medications are FDA approved.”
The researchers plan to use physiological, biochemical and molecular methods to study uterine muscle in hopes of gaining a greater understanding of what triggers the muscle to begin labor before 37 weeks gestation. The aim of the study is to not only learn the cause of preterm labor, but also lead to new pharmaceutical therapies for mothers who experience preterm labor.
“Premature delivery is increasing and there are now more than 500,000 such births annually. Prematurity is a devastating problem that takes its toll both in lives and dollars, often leaving babies that survive with life-long medical disabilities,” says Buxton. “I hope our research will contribute to an understanding of the onset of labor in order to eliminate the problem of premature delivery.”
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational, and clinical needs since 1969. The School of Medicine encompasses 16 clinical medical education departments, including Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as well as ten nationally-recognized departments within basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. As the largest multi-specialty healthcare focus within the state, the School of Medicine employs more than 185 doctors who both teach and practice medicine throughout Nevada. The school’s statewide faculty physician practice group has a combined 25 different medical specialties with seven physician practice offices located in the Reno-Sparks area and five physician offices located in Las Vegas.
The University of Nevada School of Medicine utilizes a best-practice approach to medicine and is committed to addressing the health needs of Nevada now and in the future. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.
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