Doctor receives prestigious award for IVF research

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Academic Clinical Lecturer, Dr Nicola Tempest, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, has been awarded the prestigious Laxmi Baxi Award at an annual conference of one of the most influential international gynaecological societies, the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI), based in the USA.

Dr Tempest’s abstract entitled “Spatial Transcriptomics Identifies Distinct Region and Cell-Type Specific Endometrial Abnormalities in Women with Recurrent Implantation Failure” utilises cutting edge technology to highlight gene difference in endometrial regions between women with and without recurrent implantation failure, a devastating condition suffered by 10% of women undergoing IVF with no current proven treatment options.

Dr Tempest will be presenting her work completed in the Centre for Women’s Health Research based at Liverpool Women’s Hospital (LWH) with Caamano Gutierrez E; Soul J (CBF); Hapangama DK (CfWHR) at the 70th Annual Scientific Meeting of SRI, 21-25th March 2023 in Brisbane, Australia.

The Laxmi Baxi Award is funded by Drs. Laxmi and Vibhakar Baxi in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Ishwardhas Haridas Bhatia. The award was established in 2013 by and will be awarded to PhD individuals only who are either graduate students still in training or postdoctoral fellows within 5 years of their PhD degree.

Commenting on the award, Dr Nicola Tempest said: “I am delighted to have received the news regarding the award and cannot wait to present my work at the meeting in Australia. Spatial transcriptomics has not been utilised to differentiate between women with and without recurrent implantation failure undergoing IVF and the results, we hope, will give us the opportunity to develop personalised treatment options for this devastating condition.”

“I would love to say a huge thank you to the women who have donated endometrial samples for research, my supervisor Professor Hapangama for her unwavering support and my collaborators at the CBF (Jamie and Eva) who have been integral to the work.”

The University’s Department of Women’s and Children’s Health is based at Liverpool Womens’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and is internationally renowned for its research and teaching, with specialist groups covering obstetrics, gynaecology, neonatology and medical and surgical paediatrics. For more information about the Department and the work they do, please visit: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/life-course-and-medical-sciences/about/womens-and-childrens-health/

For more information about the Society for Reproductive Investigation, visit: https://www.sri-online.org/