News Release

Gene behind rare but important pregnancy disorder found

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Researchers funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have identified the genetic cause underlying "molar pregnancy", an abnormal human pregnancy that affects one in a thousand women in Canada and the US in which there is no embryo.

The findings of MUHC geneticist Dr. Rima Slim, published in the March 2006 issue of Nature Genetics, may open new avenues of therapies and treatments for molar pregnancies as well as repeated spontaneous abortions and still births.

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CIHR-funded researcher, Dr. Wendy P. Robinson from the Child & Family Research Institute at UBC, is also available to comment on Dr. Slim's findings.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to close to 10,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca


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