Project: Unveiling maternal-fetal BRAin-body interactions in pregnant WOmen affected by depression
| Acronym | BRAWO (Reference Number: JTC2024 - Brain-Body_BRAWO_1) |
| Project Topic | In neuroscientific research, a largely unexplored field regards the complex brain-body interactions of the maternal-fetal unit which our project, named BRAWO, intends to unravel, particularly during perinatal depression. Specifically, it aims to investigate the inter-relationships between neural, endocrine, immune, and placental axes, and to explore their impact on feto-neonatal brain, cognitive and behavioural outcomes. By integrating unique pre-collected and new-collected longitudinal clinical, biological, and imaging data from mother-infant pairs, we will develop advanced multivariate and multi-organ diagnostic and predictive models. Our expected outcomes include the discovery of single biomarkers or pathways for early identification and management of maternal depression. Additionally, we seek to uncover brain-body axis-related targets for future drug discovery efforts, offering new avenues for intervention and prevention in prenatal mental health care. The study feasibility is supported by the consortium's multidomain expertise and by its unique experience in cohort recruitment, multi-omics analyses, neuroimaging, and big data modeling. Through collaborative synergy, BRAWO aims to advance understanding and improve outcomes for mothers and their infants affected by depression during pregnancy. |
| Network | NEURON Cofund2 |
| Call | Neuron Cofund2 Joint Call 2024 |