Dense Metabolomics Profiling Over the Course of Gestation

Mads Melbye of Statens Serum Institut in Denmark will analyze the metabolic changes that occur in women over the full course of pregnancy to help identify signatures that could diagnose disease or predict gestational age. They will use liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to measure the plasma levels of a broad range of metabolites in 30 pregnant women every two weeks. They will also collect samples for future analyses to profile the types and levels of other molecules and microbes at different stages of pregnancy. They will analyze their data for associations between specific metabolites and gestational age, and validate these on an existing independent cohort of 100,000 mother-child pairs.