Francesca Gaccioli

After my PhD in Molecular Biology and Pathology from the University of Parma (Italy), I spent several years in the US working as a postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH) and at the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio, TX). Although I enjoyed my American experience and loved my cowboy boots very much (I still do!), I crossed the pond again and joined the Obs/Gynae Department in 2013. Since then I have been passionately working on understanding and predicting pregnancy complications alongside Profs Gordon Smith and Steve Charnock-Jones.

Project/study information 

My work is based on the data and samples collected as part of 3 large clinical studies running in the Department: 

• The Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study and the follow-up POPS2 study, including a total of ~9,000 first pregnancies. Using multi-omics approaches to analyse placental and maternal blood samples, my research aims at understanding how altered placental development and function contribute to pregnancy complications, such as fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. The overarching goal of this work is to identify novel circulating biomarkers for predicting these adverse pregnancy outcomes.  
• The Detecting intrauterine Group B Streptococcus (DIGS) study which aims to: i) determine the relationship between maternal Group B Strep (GBS) colonisation, the presence of GBS in the intra-uterine tissues and the risk of neonatal morbidity; ii) study the mechanisms behind the effects of placental GBS infection; iii) establish the genetic factors promoting GBS invasion. 

Recruitment of PhD / Post doctoral students 

Master and summer students, please get in touch with me by email if you are interested in my research projects described above.